Mass Effect 3: Resistance
by Fainmaca
Summary: The Reapers stalk the Earth, but Humanity is not going down without a fight. This is the story of one extraordinary team caught in the eye of the storm. An expansion to Into The Unknown, so reading that fic is recommended first.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's notes: Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3 and all related characters and trademarks are property of EA/Bioware. Rated M for language, violence and suggestive themes._

_Author's Notes: Just a little something I've decided to do alongside my main ME3 fic. This deals with certain minor characters that appear in Into The Unknown, and helps tell the story of what happened after Shepard left Earth. This will feature OCs only, no Canon Characters, as it is meant to be an extension of ITU, much like the Dark Horse comics are to the games._

_There will be six chapters, which I will release from time to time to coincide with certain events from ITU. Anyway, let me know what you think!_

**Mass Effect: Resistance**

**Chapter One: Endurance**

_'Two million dead in the first day, another seven million by the end of the first week…'_

The streets were completely devoid of movement, inhabited only by the occasional wisp of smoke escaping from a pile of debris or the very rare rat scuttling about furtively, although those sightings had become more scarce in recent days. Some thought that the invaders emitted a form of radiation that killed small life forms, others suspected that the strange beings' even stranger servants devoured them. The pair of beings moving through the streets didn't know, nor did they care as they stalked through the empty city.

The normally pristine sandy hair of the former Alliance soldier at the head of the column was heavily matted with grime, dust and ash, clear evidence of his long stint in the burnt out husk of a city. Green eyes glared out from beneath heavy brows, encircled by an armada of wrinkles, the parting gifts of many sleepless nights spent on watch. He was tall, with a frame that wasn't overly broad, but at the same time wasn't too narrow either. His lanky arms and legs, along with the thick muscles on his body spoke of the kind of strength crafted by a life filled with struggle and hardship, beaten into an especially tough exterior by recent difficulties. He still wore his old combat armour, a dusty grey collection of plates that could deflect most forms of small-arms fire. Bullet holes and scorch marks across the exterior spoke of recent combat, along with a lack of facilities to repair them. The left leg of the suit was pitch-black, out of sync with the rest of the armour, clearly stripped from one of the dead to replace a destroyed predecessor. The soldier walked with a slight limp, indicating that the attack that had destroyed the last piece of leg armour had also left him with a troubling injury. However, he did not allow it to slow him down, bearing the occasional twinge of pain with a strong expression.

"We're almost there." His companion muttered.

Benjamin Swift, a former Captain in the Alliance, turned to look at his companion, the small but heavily muscled Tina Hebditch. She stood at about five foot and seven inches, but the way she held herself gave the illusion of extra height. She had the stance of a boxer, intimating stored strength. Her arms were bulky, and her legs were coated in thick muscles. Having spent her life making a living in London's back streets, she'd quickly learned of her gift for combat, and had soon found employment, mostly as an enforcer, but also sometimes as an amateur boxer, wrestler, or anything else she could find to do that involved getting into a ring and fighting in front of a crowd of intoxicated men. All too often, she had been forced to use her skills to emphatically turn down a potential suitor on the wrong side of a bottle of Batarian liquor.

This powerful build, however, did not mean that she was unattractive, however. Although not extraordinarily endowed, she had been granted the appropriately curved physique that turned some heads in any bar or nightclub she entered. Her soft, rounded features were somewhat attractive, with round, slightly pouting lips and almond shaped eyes that betrayed a drop of Eastern blood in her veins, although she possessed the pale skin and striking blonde hair of a woman of Norse descent. A true child of the multi-cultural Britain in existence today, her true ancestry was difficult to pinpoint, although the air of mystery did add somewhat to her attractiveness. When she spoke, her voice purred with the slight burr of a resident of the borders between England and Scotland.

Benjamin looked about dubiously, eyeing up the surrounding buildings. They were in the middle of a residential area, identical in appearance to any other. Buildings on either side stared at them with hollow, accusing windows, soot from long-dead fires staining the walls.

The initial attack had sparked a fire of greater intensity than the Great Fire of several centuries ago, washing through the city in a cleansing wave that left many dead in its wake, some killed by the flames, others choked by the smoke that had formed a cloud about four kilometres across. Even now, fires still burned in certain districts of the city, and Benjamin had walked through places where the rubble still smouldered deep underfoot, causing the streets above to become unbearably hot. Without any intervention, the fire could continue to burn for years to come, underground and out of site. It made seeking refuge a nightmare. Lifting a manhole or opening a door could allow an inrush of air to a mostly dormant blaze and spark a lethal fireball. This made any haven a godsend, earnestly sought after by survivors the city over.

With all of this running through his mind, Benjamin examined the empty houses around him. They were all fairly standard, two-floor semi-detached homes, possibly a good investment for a young family looking to spread its wings, but not especially secure for the survivors of an alien invasion, and especially not ideal as a fortress against the creatures that roamed the streets at night, doing their masters' bidding. Ben raised an eyebrow as he turned back to Tina. He returned the questioning glance with a grimace of annoyance, pushing past him.

"Just watch, soldier boy." She grumbled, although the smirk on her lips betrayed her amusement.

She strode up the street, counting the houses. As she approached the front gate of the fifteenth one along, she turned and entered the house through the front door, the actual door having been broken down by some immensely strong creature and forcing her to pick through the jagged fragments. Ben followed cautiously.

The soldier was forced to turn away in disgust as they passed the living room, confronted by a scene of horror. His hand shot to his mouth as bile rose in his throat, but he managed to quell the urge to vomit, steeling himself to look again as Tina guided him through.

The occupants of the house were still there, all in varying stages of decomposition. The father of the family was lying on the floor of the living room, face-down. Judging by the amount of blood staining the carpet around him, there must have been very little left of the front of him. Various organs spilled out across the carpet in a gory tide, sending a smell up towards the ceiling that had an almost tangible presence in the room. His wife and young son had fared no better, huddled in a corner with fear etched across their faces, an expression that death had made permanent. Benjamin refused to examine them any more closely, knowing that what he would see would only further rob him of peace. Thankfully, Tina quickly guided him past the grisly scene.

"What are they still doing there?" Benjamin asked, his ability to speak returning once he had left the room.

"A house full of bodies suddenly getting cleaned up would look rather suspicious, don't you think?" Tina pointed up to the ceiling, indicating something outside. "They know we don't like to hang around our dead. That our first instinct would be to put the bodies to rest. They've had plenty of time to learn our ways, and now they're using those against us. We've got to change, start doing things that don't fit into the pattern."

Benjamin nodded in silence. It made sense. He didn't like it, but apparently it worked. He followed Tina to a door at the back of the house. She opened the door, revealing a staircase heading downwards. Without another word, they descended into a basement, dank and musty. Ben looked about with the aid of his omnitool's torch function, scanning the room. When he realised it contained only a few boxes, he glanced to Tina questioningly.

"Just hold on a second." She muttered back. With that, she walked up to one wall and thumped on it with a clenched fist.

Moments later, a grinding sound could be heard a segment of the wall shuddered back a foot before sliding to the side shakily. A large, heavily built figure stood in the new opening, glaring at the two new arrivals with open hostility. A lit cigar danced on his lower lip, casting strange shadows across a scarred and pock-marked face.

"Who is this?"

His voice was thick, heavy, bearing a strong Slavic accent. As he talked, the lit cigar bounced around, trailing dim orange light across his face. Benjamin could see several days worth of black stubble, matching the greasy mop of limp black hair shot through with flashes of grey that covered his scalp. Sharp brown eyes glared from beneath a brow like a paving slab.

"A new recruit." Tina answered stiffly. "Stand down, Nikolai."

With a grunt, the lumbering man stepped back, hand dropping from his hip. Benjamin took note of the gun holstered there, a little surprised to see what might as well have been a compact shotgun in each hip holster, such was the size and evident power of these pistols. Benjamin was a little surprised to see this 'Nikolai' carrying two, as he guessed most men would struggle to carry one and be able to fire it effectively. The recoil must have been monstrous on them. 'Nikolai' caught his gaze, and glared.

"Nice guns." Benjamin muttered. He was rewarded with a snort, followed by a thick chuckle.

"Ha! Go play somewhere else, leedle man. These are not toys like guns you carry. They break your arm in two shots."

Benjamin bristled at the mocking comments, but held his tongue. Now was not the time to piss off potential allies. Tina waved him past the door-guard, ushering him on into the tunnels beyond. Behind them, the inconspicuous entrance into the basement ground shut.

"We stumbled on these pretty much by accident." Tina explained as she clambered over piles of rubble and through pools of water coated with thick scum. "One of our jeeps got a wheel stuck in a manhole, and when we saw that the tunnel wasn't on fire like the last half dozen, we decided to investigate. Turns out the sewer's been sealed off about a mile in each direction from here by falling material, dislodged when those things landed and started blasting the crap out of the city. We got free air-flow, water that can be cleaned up to a drinkable standard, and all the vermin we can stomach. Not much, but living's better than dead."

"How many of you are there? You said you had jeeps?"

"Yeah, 'had' being the operative word there. They're hidden somewhere in the city, but they're useless without any petrol."

"They still run on petrol?" Benjamin asked incredulously.

"They're the only vehicles that don't get spotted by the global surveillance network. Let's us move about without drawing attention to ourselves. Of course, nobody's really made vehicles that run on internal combustion for a couple of decades, so we had to steal these out of a museum. The petrol was even worse. In the end we had to find a close enough substitute and just hope the engines didn't blow up too quickly." She paused to look back at him. "Don't know what you were thinking, but an army, we ain't."

"I'm just glad to finally meet up with some survivors." He said, glancing to the walls distractedly. "A month in one goddamn clock tower completely alone can do funny things to a man's head."

"I'll bet." Tina chuckled. "Alright… we're here."

As she said this, she led him around a final corner, into a brightly-lit segment of the sewers. A half dozen faces turned his way, hollow eyes regarding him with caution, hope and hostility, all at once. Three tents had been set up in the tunnel, little more than canvas sheets laid over hastily tied together sticks in a feeble attempt to service modesty. Crates of supplies had been piled up against the far wall, behind the biggest of the tents.

Benjamin spared a moment to look around before his attention was drawn to a short, solidly built man approaching him. He must have been the leader of the settlement, if it could be called that. 'Camp' seemed more appropriate.

"Tina! Welcome back." He spoke warmly. His accent bore just the slightest twang of an Irishman, a quiet purr to his voice. "And who might this be?"

Benjamin regarded the new arrival. He was short, but possessed muscles that would make a smart man think twice about taking him on. His face was weathered to such a degree that he could have been in his late forties, more probably his early fifties. The rust-coloured hair on his head was thinning, allowing a dome of smooth scalp to peek out at the crown of his head. His eyes were a dull greyish-blue in hue, and his teeth were a weathered yellow, stained by years of smoking. A bulbous nose protruded from the front of his face, coloured the angry red of an alcoholic of several decades.

"Captain Benjamin Swift, Systems Alliance Navy." Benjamin said stiffly, extending a hand.

"James Kenney, formerly a Colonel of the Alliance Army." The ruddy-faced man took Benjamin's hand in his powerful grip.

"Formerly?" Benjamin asked.

"First Contact War, Shanxi. Stood too close to a grenade one of those Turian bastards threw our way. Medic patched me up just fine, but the nerves were never the same, you know?" James turned away, waving for the duo to follow him. "So, where did Tina dig you up, then?"

"Benny boy here's been the one taking out all of those damn creatures around Westminster." Tina explained.

"Is that so? Well, I guess I owe you me thanks, boy." James threw a wink back over my shoulder. "I was out there one night when an unknown sniper got two of those beasts offa my back. Let me get the hell outta there that day. Never could find anyone there when we went back the next day."

"I've been keeping low."

"Well, what made you come outta hidin' now?"

"Food. I had supplies, but those MREs only last so long."

"Plus they all taste like shite."

"That, too. I'd hoped to see some reinforcements arriving before now, though. So I thought I had enough to last if I stayed put and did my best to keep the area clear."

"I think we've all got used to the idea that help's not comin', son. It's been a month and a half now, and there's not even been a flash o' light in the sky to say that somebody's fightin' to get through. We just gotta make do with what we have ourselves."

"No. Help's coming." Benjamin said firmly. "Shepard's out there, working to gather an army to come back here and show these bastards a thing or two."

"Shepard?" James almost laughed. "He's probably dead, along with the rest of the people who tried to fight."

"He's alive." Benjamin said.

"And how would you know?"

"Because I helped him get out of here. I let myself get stranded here so that he had a shot at saving the Council and getting to safety."

"So you saw Commander Shepard get away?" Tina asked with hope in her voice.

"Yes. He's out there right now, doing everything he can to help us." Benjamin assured.

"Then what's taking him so long, huh?" James asked in a confrontational tone. "Why hasn't he come riding in to save the day like you seem so certain he will?"

Benjamin was silent, glaring at the former soldier's back. James sighed, sensing that this topic pained the young Captain.

"This isn't the time for this." He grunted. "We're on our own right now. We've got to focus on what we can do by ourselves. Tina, did you find anything out while you were scouting?"

"Just the same as what we've seen before. They're taking the city apart, piece by piece. Herding up any survivors they find, less and less every day. They take the captives and the raw materials from the buildings to someplace over on the East side of town. I couldn't get close enough for a good look, though. Too heavily patrolled. It was on my way back I bumped into Benny here."

"What are they doing with all those resources?" James wondered out loud. He shrugged. "Gotta find out. Tina, gather everyone together. We need to talk."

**~o~0~o~**

Moments later, the small cluster of people had gathered around a large crate that served as a table. James stood at the head of the table, watching those in his care with sharp eyes. Tina stood to his left, arms folded across her chest. Benjamin looked to the rest of the group around the table, examining each one in person. There were nine of them in total, including Benjamin, Tina, James and Nikolai, who had just returned from watching the concealed entrance to the tunnel. Benjamin scanned the other five survivors briefly. One was a stocky man of American descent, with stony features and a calculating gaze, another was a young black man, barely out of his teens, who constantly ran his hands through his wiry black hair and nibbled at his nails. The third and fourth members of the crew were plainly bother and sister, their deeply tanned skin spoke of a Middle-Eastern origin. The final member of the group returned Benjamin's probing stare with one of her own, sparing him a smirking wink. She deeply slanted eyes, combined with a snow-white complexion and deeply red lips hinted at a Chinese or Japanese lineage. As she pushed a few strands of her raven-black hair away from her face, she spoke up to address the new arrival.

"Ts'ao Lei." She bowed her head. "But you can call me Lei."

"Benjamin Swift."

"Good to meet you, Benjamin. Welcome to the resistance."

"Lei, that's enough chatter." James said sternly. He turned to face the rest of the group. "I wanted to speak to you all today because its becoming clearer with every day that we can't just sit here and wait for the world to come to an end. These invaders are moving. They're gathering any resources they can take by disassembling buildings, taking entire city blocks for some unknown purpose. They're also rounding up survivors, herding them about like cattle. Things are happening, and it's only a matter of time before they find us. We need to find out what we can do to fight these things before hiding ceases to be an option."

He leaned forward, spreading out an array of datapads on the table before the group. Benjamin felt his breath catch in his throat as he surveyed the grand sum of knowledge the survivors had on their strange new enemy. He glanced from image to image, shivering as he spotted the cold, emotionless metal shapes. James caught his gaze, the duo sharing a significant moment of understanding. The former Colonel's next words were primarily addressed to the Captain.

"Let's take the fight to these 'Reapers'."

_Author's Notes: If you're still with me now then I hope you liked this opening chapter, and I hope you enjoy what's yet to come. Please leave a review to let me know whether you like it, hate it, think I should go die in a fire, or just really like fudge. Expect future chapters to be of a comparable length to this one, and hopefully a bit more actiony._


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's notes: Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3 and all related characters and trademarks are property of EA/Bioware. Rated M for language, violence and suggestive themes._

_Author's Notes: Here we go, Chapter Two. I'll update this story alongside my main fic, putting up one chapter with each main mission from Into the Unknown. Once again, i highly recommend reading that fic before this one. Anyway, please enjoy this latest chapter._

**Chapter Two: Evolution**

_"Every defence annihilated, all of our forces on the run. Regrouping…_

_Somewhere…"_

Benjamin moved down the still alleyway silently, rifle held firmly to his chest as he moved. He looked about carefully, eyes roving across every dark corner and shadowy entrance where an enemy could hide.

A cold wind rushed up the alleyway, rustling discarded newspapers and lifting dust up on errant zephyrs. A chill darted down the Alliance soldier's spine, inspiring a shiver that delved deep into his soul. He glanced up carefully, unable to shake the sensation that he was being watched. Grey-black clouds scudded by overhead, deceptively peaceful. Instead of carrying life-giving precipitation, these clouds were made up from the thick smoke and ash of the destruction the invaders had wrought upon the city below, a thicker pall than any London had borne witness to.

A startled squeak made Benjamin jump, his rifle whipping round quick as a flash as a terrified rat escaped from a pile of refuse, running for its life as the Human watched. Benjamin relaxed, the tense gasp of air he had inhaled bursting out in one quick rush.

"You need to relax, Soldier Boy." Tina's voice chuckled from the darkness of a nearby doorway.

Benjamin looked over to where she stood with a smile, able to make out the dim outline of her figure as she leaned casually against the doorjamb.

The pair had got along very well after his introduction into the survivors' camp, the woman offering to put him up in her tent until he got established among the survivors. In other circumstances, the arrangement would have raised a few eyebrows, but with resources so strained there was no place in day-to-day life for prudishness. Since then, they'd often gone out on scouting trips with the normal team of the gruff Nikolai and Jeremy, the ageing American member of the group.

"Niko and Jerry will be back soon enough." Tina assured him.

The Alliance Captain nodded distractedly. The truth was, he was probably overreacting. The duo had been gone only twenty minutes or so, hardly any amount of time to get really worried over, but they normally reported back by now. The break in the routine was alarming, given the current situation in the city.

His head snapped up as a loud crack echoed through the deathly still streets. It was followed by a couple more.

"Gunfire." He muttered, breaking into a run.

Tina was directly behind him, running after the Captain without hesitation.

The duo darted through the streets towards the growing sounds of combat, emerging into a wider street and coming to a halt as they found the source of the noise.

Nikolai limped along the street as quickly as he could, blood pouring from a grievous wound to his calf. He looked back over his shoulder, unleashing a fierce barrage from his two guns at the enemies that pursued him.

Benjamin's tongue caught in his throat as he caught sight of the pale horde of Husks lurching down the street after his comrade. Dead faces glared emotionlessly at the Humans, empty eyes rolling in their sockets as ghastly moans rushed through cold throats.

Benjamin reacted instantly, lifting his rifle to fire past Nikolai. In moments, walking corpses collapsed under his assault, the stream of bullets ripping them to shreds.

Tina dashed forwards, lending her shoulder to her injured friend while Benjamin kept up the vicious defence. One Husk lunged for her, grabbing a hold of her ankle, but a swift kick snapped its head back on its shoulders, killing it. In moments, she'd half-walked, half-dragged Nikolai to safety. This done, she drew her pistol and set about gunning down any creatures Benjamin was hard-pressed to deal with.

In moments, the street fell silent again as the last of the abominations dropped down dead. Benjamin relaxed, although only slightly. The noise of the confrontation would have carried through the dead city. It wouldn't be long before they had company.

Tina kneeled over then prone Nikolai, tending to his injured leg. Benjamin remained standing, his expression grim as he questioned him.

"What happened?"

"We were ambushed." Nikolai wheezed in his thick accent. "They come from rooftops, drop on our heads. One of the big ones, the ones shaped like turrets, he hit me pretty bad."

"Where's Jeremy?" Tina asked anxiously.

"Taken." Nikolai's eyes were hollow. He shuddered. "They dragged him away, screaming. I still can hear his voice in my ears."

"They killed him?" Tina asked, her voice shaking.

"I did not see." Nikolai answered. "But he was screaming for long time as they carry him off. I don't think they wanted him dead. They worked hard to take our guns away without killing."

"Ben, we've got to go after him!" Tina said urgently.

"There are too many!" Nikolai protested. "They kill you both!"

"Tina's right." Benjamin answered flatly. "Jerry's our friend. We shouldn't just leave him to suffer. Aside from that, he knows where our base is. I don't want to risk the Reapers learning all of our secrets if they turn him into… into one of those things."

"He's right, Niko." Tina said gently. The brutish man nodded glumly.

"Nikolai, I hate to ask this of you, but are you good to walk? We need you to lead us to where you last saw Jeremy."

Nikolai sighed, struggling to sit up straight and wincing as his leg pained him.

"I… will try." He said eventually.

"Thank you." The Captain felt a wave of gratitude in his heart. This was a lot to ask of the man, given what he'd just been through, but it was necessary.

Nikolai struggled to his feet with help from both Benjamin and Tina, then the trio trudged off down the streets in search of their lost friend.

**~o~0~o~**

The small team gazed out over the broad plaza, having moved on from where Nikolai and Jeremy had been separated and followed in the direction their comrade had been dragged. Their journey had led them to the wide open space in front of a large structure of glass and steel. Most of the building had been demolished in the initial attack, leaving the formerly domed structure looking like an egg with the top bashed in by a vindictive spoon. The plaza itself had once been an ornately decorated space, flower beds and gardens laid out beautifully. All of these features had been burned away by the Reaper attack, nothing left but soot and ash.

"I know this place." Tina muttered. "It's the Lord Sugar Memorial Hospital."

"Lord Sugar?" Nikolai asked pensively.

"Some rich old geezer that donated the money to build the place a couple of centuries ago." She said off-handedly. "Not important right now. What matters is, what are they doing dragging living subjects back here?"

The team froze as another cluster of Husks lurched into the plaza. Screaming in their relentless grasp, a young woman struggled feebly to break free. Benjamin jolted at the sight, but a restraining hand gripped his shoulder.

"We can't draw attention to ourselves!" Tina hissed. "That's the short-cut to joining her!"

The Alliance Captain watched miserably as the woman vanished into the ruin of the hospital, her shrill cried becoming more faint then finally ceasing altogether.

"They must have chose to use the hospital for a reason." Benjamin muttered.

"An easily defensible location." Tina surmised. "Equipment, maybe? Maybe it's just a good central spot to work from."

Benjamin frowned as he thought about it.

"We need to get inside."

"Madness." Nikolai dismissed. "We would be caught."

"We need to know what their doing in there." Benjamin said firmly. "They could be building a weapon, or maybe it's a factory for those Husks they create. Whatever the case, we need to know."

"Need to, yes. Want to? Not so sure." Tina responded glumly.

"Is there any other way in?"

"There should be a few doors around the back." Tina explained. "I can't imagine they'd think they need to guard a place like this, so getting in should be easy."

"Out will be the problem." Nikolai growled glumly.

Benjamin didn't deign to comment, simply nodding to Tina to lead the way around the back. In minutes, they found a doorway that swung loosely on its hinges. Without a word, they slipped inside.

The corridor within was lit dimly by flickering white lights, the mercury vapour in the long tubes losing its potency as power surged uncertainly through it. Shadows cavorted across the floor, hurrying from doorway to doorway in their haste to escape the hesitant light. Various pieces of furniture had been scattered about, some broken into pieces by whatever had torn through. A number of pipes had been burst, spilling water across the floor in shallow pools.

As the trio moved along, they passed a number of open doors. Through them, Benjamin could see that the wards and offices of the hospital had been similarly torn apart. Sickeningly, he noted that the walls and floors were spattered with a variety of red, blue and purple hues. Many people, patients, had been injured and, possibly, killed ruthlessly by the creatures that had sacked the building. Most likely, many of them had been dragged away to be twisted into some kind of monster to serve the Reapers.

They passed by yet another door, whereupon Benjamin's arm shot out, catching Tina before she could take another step. The trio darted back out of sight, peering around the doorframe into the room.

"My god…" Tina breathed.

The room beyond was something of a mechanical nightmare. Metal harnesses lined the walls, each towering over seven feet high with what looked like eight metal ribs curling around to meet over the middle, each 'rib' separated from the others by about a foot's distance. Within each of these nightmarish cradles hung a single Husk, hanging limply from a series of pipes and wires stretching out from the cradles to connect to them. A single blue-white light glared brightly from above each cradle.

"What are they doing?" Tina asked, her voice trembling.

"I don't… recharging, maybe?" Benjamin ventured. "They're part machine. Maybe they just need a little more juice every once in a while."

"More likely the bodies need fixing." Nikolai countered. "They are always fighting survivors or digging through rubble in dangerous places. Bodies must break from time to time."

Carefully, Benjamin stepped out, walking into the room. He took a couple of timid steps up towards the nearest cradle, staring at the slack-jawed, lifeless face with wide open, dead eyes. Tina and Nikolai followed cautiously.

"…Can they see us?" Tina whispered.

"I think they're asleep." Benjamin hazarded. He certainly hoped so.

"This place is wrong." Nikolai insisted. "We should leave. The sooner we can go the better."

"He's right." Tina agreed. "Let's find Jerry and get the hell out."

They hurried on, passing a number of the cradle chambers, each one growing more unnerving than the last. Benjamin felt a cold sensation in the small of his back, the trembling ice of fear gripping the base of his spine. His legs tried to move ahead faster than the rest of his body, reducing his controlled pace to a brisk shuffle as he struggled to control his own limbs.

Finally they found themselves at the top of a flight of stairs delving underground, the bottom of the steps vanishing into darkness. Echoing drips reverberated back up to the team, a dank, unnerving sound. Benjamin hesitated above the darkness, wondering if they really needed to brave the gloom.

"I have a very bad feeling about this." Tina stated flatly.

"As far as I can see, this whole level is filled with more of those Husk chambers." Benjamin answered. "Must be thousands of the damn things. The only directions we can go are down or back to base."

"Door number two is looking pretty tempting." She responded swiftly. "Let's head down before we have a chance to run."

Benjamin nodded. The longer they delayed, the harder it would be to press on. He activated the light on his omnitool, shining it down into the murk, pushing forwards cautiously.

The basement level was almost entirely pitch black, patches of faint light around crucial power components glimmering brightly against the crushing night. As the team moved between these patches of reassuring illumination, at times shuffling through midnight murk as they lost sight of a point of light, Benjamin was certain he caught sight of pairs of glowing eyes staring at him out of the darkness, the bright synthetic glow of husks, but nothing revealed itself.

A sudden scraping, dragging noise from one side made the young Captain jump, but when he turned his light to face it, nothing was there aside from a wildly swinging wire.

At last, they found a doorway through which gleamed a faint light. They hurried towards it, ready for anything that wasn't the oppressive gloom.

Inside, another monstrosity faced them. Benjamin felt his gorge rise as he surveyed the details of the machine in the centre of the room.

A massive tub-like device sat proudly in the middle of the room, filled with purplish-grey fluid that had the consistency of mercury, with a surface equally as reflective. All around the device, sprouting from its slanting sides like a crown of thorns, were eight long spikes. A Human had been impaled upon each spike save for one, which bore a Turian. The bodies twitched silently, but these were the involuntary movements of a disconnected nervous system, no sentient thought behind them. This was plain because of the fact that the backs of their skulls had been split open as wires, surging out of their skin like snakes, reared up before digging deep into the soft grey tissue. More wires and pipes wriggled about like a mass of maggots below their skin, rearranging their innards as the trio watched. The pitiful creatures' hides were being pulled taut as their bodies filled with strange tech.

Benjamin took a couple of shaky steps toward the device, peering in at the gloopy substance stored within. Pipes funnelled the liquid-solid material up the spikes, pumping it into the bodies. Fluids drained back down the spikes, blood, bile and various other humours, spilling back into the pool. As Benjamin watched, the fluids seeped down under the surface, vanishing without so much as staining the substance. Tentatively, he reached out with a hand. He didn't want to, but he couldn't help it.

Nikolai's hand darted out, catching his own. He shook his head, as if snapping out of a dream, and looked into the larger man's cautioning features.

"Don't." Nikolai warned. As if to demonstrate his caution, he pulled a thermal clip from his belt. He held it over the surface, then let go.

The clip dropped onto the surface of the substance, pausing there for a moment. As Benjamin watched, the tiny object vanished, disintegrating in moments. A sooty grey dust swirled across the surface for a moment before disappearing.

"Nanites." Nikolai explained. "But they work a lot faster than anything I've seen. You put your hand in, you lose it."

"How did you know?" Benjamin asked, staring at the pool with dread.

"Before attack, I am working for big tech firm, research into omni-gel." Nikolai answered.

"Really?" Benjamin couldn't help asking.

"Many people are underestimating me, think I am dumb brute." Nikolai grinned, tapping his temple. "Big mistake. In Russia, I work for many years on various research projects, many classified things."

Tina walked around the device cautiously, eyeing it up with a mixture of revulsion and morbid curiosity. She wandered close, glancing at the Turian corpse dangling next to her, the spike pushing through its heart.

A three-taloned hand shot out, grabbing her wrist. She let out a piercing shriek as she flailed at the appendage, struggling to get it to release its iron grip. The Turian corpse twitched soundlessly on its spike, not even looking at her.

Alerted by her screams, Benjamin ran over, prying the clawed fingers off her wrist. Free, she backed away, gibbering in terror. She collapsed against Benjamin as he tried to put a comforting arm around her, pressing her face into his shoulder to hide from the device as he spoke soothingly.

"It's okay… just a muscle spasm… nothing to worry about… shh."

He walked her out, allowing her to keep her face averted from the grisly device until they'd left the room behind. Eventually his calm words eased her fear, allowing her to gasp in a couple of steadying breaths.

"We should get out of here." Nikolai said, regarding his friend gently.

"Come on." Benjamin encouraged. "There can't be much more to this place. Let's find Jerry and get out."

The trio moved along, passing a couple more rooms with the tank devices inside. Nikolai checked each one in case they found their friend, but there was no sign of Jeremy anywhere.

At last, they reached one final door. Cautiously, they opened it and slid inside. Beyond was what had formerly been a massive refrigeration unit, a huge room that spread out below a narrow catwalk that ran over it with a couple of flights of stairs leading downwards. The air within was bitingly cold, turning the team's breath to thick fog.

Benjamin gazed down, wondering what new mechanical depravity he might find here. Below, six caskets sat in a row on the floor, five of them closed. The final one was open, revealing the struggling form of Jeremy. The Alliance Captain stifled the urge to hurry to his friend, carefully surveying the room.

A deep voice boomed out, making the trio duck into hiding in the doorway. The voice was powerful, commanding, and it found a way to dig into the deepest part of the brain, unearthing primal fears within that made the faint of heart turn and run.

"Your struggles are futile, Human. This would be far less painful if you just surrendered your mind. Your willpower will fail, in time. Our patience is infinite."

A towering figure approached the casket, stepping into Benjamin's line of sight. It was a very tall human, but there was something very wrong about her. Her posture was hunched, hinting that there was much more concealed by her slouch. She gave off the impression that if she stood up straight she could almost reach the ceiling, even though this would be impossible. Her eyes glowed with a sinister red hue, while massive rents in her skin allowed severe scarlet light to pour out, casting a crimson glow across the floor. It looked like the fragile form was housing a vast powerhouse, the sheer energy of which was ripping her apart with its presence. The deep voice that escaped from her was nothing an organic could create and didn't really work in sync with her mouth. Benjamin got the feeling the words were actually reaching his brain by a means that bypassed his ears, an effect that was entirely unsettling.

Quailing under her gaze, Jeremy shuddered in his restraints.

"Just have it done already and kill me!" He yelled, showing surprising control considering what he faced.

"Kill you?" The figure seemed amused by the thought. "No, we will not kill you. We have a much more glorious purpose in mind for you."

The woman began to stalk around the casket, running a glowing hand across his face. He screeched as the digits brushed his skin, intense heat escaping from them and scorching his skin.

"We will free you from death, from pain, from weakness. We will elevate you to a new level of existence. And then you will serve us. You will help us to find the rebels that survive across the surface of this planet, and then you will help us wipe them out."

"I'm telling you nothing!"

"You won't need to say a word. Your mind will be ours soon enough." Her head dipped close to his, lips curving up in a cruel smile. "Can you feel them, moving under your flesh? Soon they'll begin their work, subverting your body, then your mind. Then, you will be reborn as our servant, perfectly disguised to hide within the ranks of your fellow rebels. Their petty efforts to fight against us will be brought to a halt. Then, you and many more of your kind will be sent out to sow chaos among the stars, seeking out every corner of the Galaxy to betray the last remnants of organic life."

Jeremy screamed, his face turning bright red as his heart pushed blood faster and faster through his system. Benjamin tried to turn away, but found himself fixated as he watched what happened next. As his friend screeched like a banshee, machinery moved in, cutting into his flesh mercilessly. His arms and legs were cut open, skin and flesh peeled away without worry while his entire torso was sliced open from his sternum to navel. Blood pooled around him as it poured out of open arteries, but his tortured cries remained strong, some devilish machinery keeping the life within him even as his body was ripped to shreds. More mechanical arms moved in, inserting a vast multitude of tiny metallic devices, rebuilding his bones and organs. Wires snaked into the seething mass of ruined flesh, moving of their own volition to replace nerves as pipes replaced blood vessels.

After a full minute of the horrific process, accompanied continuously by the hideous screams, the machines pulled back. More moved in, replacing the displaced flesh and skin. Tiny welding machines sealed the wounds, closing it up without a mark. Soon, a loud sucking noise filled the casket as the blood drained away and water flowed over the writhing body, cleaning it.

The glowing woman stalked over, placing her hand on the forehead of what had been Jeremy. The tortured body twitched, then went still as the screams came to an end. There was a long, deep silence.

"Arise."

The creature within the casket opened its eyes. No longer were they the steely stare that had been Jeremy's. Now, they glowed with a synthetic blue light. They focused on the woman before them as Not-Jeremy sat up.

"Your previous identity no longer exists. You are now a servant of the Reapers. You will do as we command, go where we desire, kill who we wish dead, die when we will it."

"Your will." The creature said stiffly, meekly.

"Good. Now, as your first task, you must betray your former allies. Where are they based?"

Not-Jeremy opened his mouth to speak, ready to offer the location of the survivor's camp.

A sudden bang resounded through the refrigeration room as the creature's head exploded in a fountain of blood and gore. The woman spun, eyes blazing as she looked for who had fired the shot. Up on the catwalk, Nikolai popped the heat sink of one of his big guns. She unleashed a piercing shriek, soon echoed by a thousand creatures throughout the hospital. Behind her, the corpse of what had been Jeremy slumped to the ground, put out of its misery.

"Running would be good." Nikolai commented, drawing his second gun.

Benjamin needed no further urging. He looked back into the hospital, realising that that would be suicide. He looked across the refrigeration room, spotting the door in the far wall. Robbed of any other option, he grasped at this straw.

"Come on!"

The woman-creature leapt at them, grabbing a hold of the underside of the catwalk as she bounded towards them.

The trio raced for the safety of the door, desperately doing their best to keep ahead of the monstrous glowing creature. Moments before it caught them, Benjamin slipped through the door, slamming it shut as Tina and Nikolai rushed through. The door shook as the creature struck it powerfully.

The team did not wait for it to break through, bolting down the corridor beyond. Soon they found themselves racing up a steep gradient until they burst out into what had been a vehicle garage. Most of the craft had been torn apart, but a couple of big, four-wheeled craft remained, including a big military ATV, presumably something that had been used to take injured soldiers to the hospital before it had been invaded. Without pause, they hurried over to it, Nikolai leaping into the front seat and quickly setting about hot-wiring it. Tina scrambled into the seat next to him, while Benjamin leapt behind the turret on the roof of the craft.

The Alliance captain watched the corridor they had come out of tensely, keeping the turret trained on it. His pulse began to race as a faint red glow appeared, growing in intensity.

"Niko…" He warned.

"One moment." Nikolai said as he worked.

The red glow was definitely quite bright now.

"Niko!"

"Almost there."

The woman-creature appeared.

"NIKO!"

"Done!"

The engine roared to life as Benjamin unleashed a vicious volley from the turret. Nikolai gunned the engine, mashing down on the accelerator. The craft leapt forward, pouncing out of the garage in moments. Benjamin kept firing at the abomination behind them until finally the speedy vehicle carried them away, the hospital vanishing in the distance. The Captain sagged with relief as the danger passed.

**~o~0~o~**

After about an hour, Nikolai finally allowed the vehicle to slow. They'd raced through the city at a hectic pace, soon leaving it behind as they rocketed southwards, in the opposite direction from the camp in the hopes of throwing off any pursuers who might use them to find the others.

Tina had sagged wearily over the dashboard, her eyes flittering from exhaustion. Nikolai remained resolutely alert at the wheel, while Benjamin refused to leave the gun, in case it was needed. They travelled in silence. After what they had seen, words were no use.

Nikolai crunched the gears on the vehicle as they hurried up the slope of a hill. In the distance, over the roar of the engine, Benjamin imagined that he could hear the crash of surf. They must have travelled further than he thought.

They crested the hill. What awaited them beyond made Nikolai slam his foot on the brakes. The trio all looked up in surprise at what loomed ahead of them. Eventually, Tina was the first to find her voice.

"Holy shit." She breathed.

_Author's Notes: There we are, Chapter Two! Be sure to let me know what you think. I knocked this together over the course of today, so it may not be as polished as it could be._

_One thing to bear in mind about this fic is it is meant to be a narrative rather than an emulation of the game, so I'm actually avoiding putting much combat in it, relying on the other elements to carry the story. Please tell me if you think it works!_

_Anyway, that's it for now, so please, read, review, repeat!_

_Fainmaca out._


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's notes: Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3 and all related characters and trademarks are property of EA/Bioware. Rated M for language, violence and suggestive themes._

**Chapter Three: Enlightenment**

" _Reports are coming in from other major cities. It's a well co-ordinated attack, and so far it's been damned effective…"_

Benjamin stared at the towering colossus with genuine awe, his neck aching as his head rotated further and further upwards.

Now that he was aware of it, the young Alliance Captain was amazed that he could have missed it, but then again the sky was choked with the smog of war, thick ash clouds and massive billows of smoke choking out the sun and moon in equal measures. In the fading evening, the subject of his attention was still a faint greyish black hue against the sky, the obscurity of distance making it hard to see.

It loomed up into the sky for over eighty kilometres, an impossible feat for a Human structure. Or any other known species, for that matter. The structure defied every engineering principle that Benjamin knew of.

Sitting on the very southern coastline of the country, the massive tower was about two hundred metres wide, a gnarled spire of black metal that swayed perilously in the wind. Far above, Benjamin could make out a huge platform, perfectly round. Long struts of metal spread out from this platform in six directions, creating a sinister symmetry as five of the struts stretched away to vanish into the distance while the sixth, running back towards London, ended abruptly. As the light of the day faded, lights blinked on across its surface, revealing that the spire was, in fact, hollow. The outer surface of the structure was a spider's web of metal girders, a close-knit tangle through with only a little light passed. Inside, a platform could be seen zooming up and down at regular intervals.

"What the hell is that thing?" Tina asked, her voice quavering.

"I-" Benjamin hesitated. "I have no idea."

"This is wrong." Nikolai said firmly. "It is wrong."

"Do you think that this is what they've been using the resources from the city for?" Tina asked.

"I don't know…" Benjamin mused. "I don't think even something that big would account for all of the resources we saw them taking away." He pondered their situation for a moment. "We've got to take a closer look."

"What?" Tina almost shouted.

"Whatever that… thing… is, its important to the Reapers, otherwise they wouldn't spend their time building it. We need to find out whatever we can about it. Any intel we can gather could be used in a counteroffensive."

"This is suicide." Nikolai grumbled. "I will not help you do this."

"Good." Benjamin said evenly. "Because I wasn't about to ask you to." He held up a hand at the Russian's surprised expression and opening mouth. "Tina and I are going to go check this thing out. We need you to stay back here with the ATV. Be ready to come fetch us if we have to leave in a hurry, but if we don't reappear three hours, head back to camp and tell them everything we already know, including what happened to Jerry. James needs to know that new survivors will need additional screening to make sure they're safe."

"I will do as you say." The burly Russian grumbled. "Be careful."

Benjamin nodded to him gratefully before turning towards the back of the vehicle, digging around under the back seat.

"What are you doing?" Tina asked.

"This is a military craft. That means that it should have an emergency kit for hostile environments. We're going to need that if we're going up that tower." Benjamin turned, handing the curious Tina a breath mask and an atmospheric kinetic barrier. The items would do nothing to defend her from an attacking enemy, but they'd keep her safe if the upper level of the pillar was as exposed as Benjamin suspected. From the looks of it, the tower reached almost into orbit, so an almost non-existent atmosphere and bitingly cold temperatures were to be expected.

They brought the vehicle closer to the tower, finally finding a copse of trees to hide it in only a couple of miles from the base of the structure. Tina and the Captain exited the ATV, choosing to move ahead on foot rather than risk the vehicle being detected. Nikolai watched anxiously until they were lost to his sight, then sat back in the craft tensely, fumbling in his pockets until he found one of his prized cigars, lighting it with shaking fingers.

Benjamin led Tina towards the tower, covering the distance quickly. They scuttled over the final half-kilometre until they reached the edge of the patch of cleared ground that surrounded the pillar. Nothing, not even a blade of grass, stood in that cleared area. A thick layer of blackened soot coated the ground, speaking of the incinerating blast that had created the open area for the Reaper's slaves to work in.

Benjamin tensed as he caught sight of a cluster of said servants shambling into view. He watched with a mixture of revulsion and fascination as a train of what appeared to be indoctrinated Elcor and Krogan slaved to drag several massive carts of salvaged materials, metal and chemicals mostly, although there was a fair amount of concrete and glass, too. Each beast hauled a load that would easily match what the standard eighteen-wheeled truck could move, allowing tonne after tonne of harvested resources to be dragged towards the base of the tower. Each load was then deposited on the waiting platform within the structure. Once full, the platform rushed upwards, carried skywards at an impressive speed. The entire process, from the loading of the platform commencing until it returned, now emptied of its resources, took about twenty minutes.

"We've got to get onto that platform." Benjamin concluded.

"Should be easy enough." Tina said, nodding towards where the indoctrinated aliens were now retreating while another convoy arrived.

The duo scuttled towards this newest caravan, making a beeline for the cart drawn by an Elcor labouring away at the back of the procession. They reached it just before the cart was hauled into the open area, clambering in and ensconcing themselves in a tight niche among the twisted and blackened girders.

"This is insane." Benjamin muttered, his words muffled as Tina's hair tickled his face. The young woman squirmed at the sensation of his breath on her scalp, but there was nowhere she could go in the cramped space. "This kind of thing only works in the vids, you know."

They held their breath as the cart trundled towards the base of the tower, slotting in beside over a dozen identical receptacles before there was a loud crunch, then a grinding noise as the platform slid upwards. The duo slipped on their breath masks as the air around them chilled dramatically, the platform rising higher and higher as the wind whipped past. The light slowly drained from the atmosphere around them until finally there was next to no atmosphere to reflect it, barely a few molecules of air between them and the harshness of space.

All was silent for a moment, then suddenly the carts lurched as they moved away from the platform, each being tethered to a Reaper Thrall waiting on the plateau that formed the top of the spire. As their cart shivered its way across the uneven metal surface, Benjamin and Tina leapt out, quickly scurrying for cover in between two jutting struts of metal.

The Alliance Captain and his comrade looked about anxiously, scanning their surroundings. They watched as the carts were moved across the vast metal plain until they were all grouped together out in the open. The contents of the carts were then tipped out, forming a massive pile of debris.

With a suddenness that made Tina flinch, a massive metal shape clanged down on the plateau, sending shivers travelling through the metal and up the duo's legs. Benjamin tugged Tina back into hiding as the gargantuan shape loomed over them, the full, two-kilometre long hulk of a Reaper. Its eight legs splayed out to hold it up, allowing it to slowly stalk towards the pile of rubble. Two of the tentacle-like legs reached out, scooping up the resources quickly and storing them in an opening that appeared in the creature's underside. In moments, dozens of tonnes of the debris had been scooped up and stored away. This done, the Reaper tensed before lifting off the platform lightly, scudding away into the blackness above before turning and moving with increasing speed towards the centre of the solar system.

Benjamin looked around as Tina tapped his shoulder. The young woman pointed to what looked like a terminal, activating her omnitool. Understanding, Benjamin nodded for her to lead the way while he looked all about carefully, keeping an eye out for any potential threats. The duo scuttled over to the terminal in silence.

Tina hunched over the controls, her omnitool glowing dimly as she struggled to interface with the alien technology. Finally, after a few tense minutes, the terminal responded to her commands, data flickering across the screen.

"My god…" Her voice whispered through Benjamin's commlink. "These pillars are everywhere! There's over two hundred of them spread around the world. It's like they've put the Earth in a cage!"

"They're taking resources from every major city." Benjamin surmised. "Bleeding the planet dry."

"But why? What do they want with all of these resources?"

"There's nothing on there about it?"

"No. It gives me data about the skyhooks, but not much else."

Benjamin glanced over her shoulder at the data, taking in the map of the skyhooks and the long metal struts that linked them together in a massive, even pattern that divided the world into neat triangles. It looked like the planet had been cocooned by a monstrous spider.

Suddenly, the terminal froze, an error message appearing on the screen. Red lights began flashing across the plateau, every enemy thrall present spinning to look for the intruders. Two dozen indoctrinated servants spun to glare at the two Humans that had trespassed on their masters' structure.

"The freight lift! Hurry!" Benjamin urged, shoving Tina into a run as he drew his rifle.

Stumbling across the rough metal, the duo fired their weapons indiscriminately at any enemies they could see. They ran as fast as they could towards the lift, praying it would still carry them back down towards the planet below.

As they reached the lift, Benjamin spun, firing wildly at a Krogan creature that was roaring towards them. His attacks barely scratched the monster, but slowed it long enough for Tina to point her omnitool at the lift's controls, sparks of electricity leaping forth to jolt the lift into motion. With a loud whine that Benjamin felt through his feet rather than heard with his ears, the lift began to rush downwards, leaving the thralls behind.

"Nikolai! Come in, Nikolai!" Tina shouted through the comm channels. "We've got to get out of here. If you can hear me, get ready to pick us up as fast as possible! We've got enemies right on our tail."

She paused as Benjamin nudged her, urging her to look upwards. The sight that greeted her eyes made her stomach drop. Far above, ten shapes could be seen clambering down the elevator shaft with alarming speed. As they gained on the lift, their forms resolved into the bodies of Elcor, the huge aliens swinging from support strut to internal girder using their thick forearms like huge grey-black primates. The creatures moved with a speed that had nothing of the ponderousness of a true Elcor, a clear indicator of their upgraded nature.

Benjamin didn't wait for them to get close, firing wildly in the hopes of making one or two of the creatures fall to a messy end. After unleashing the full barrage stored within one thermal clip he was finally rewarded with the sight of one of the Elcor tumbling downwards, its hand a bloody pulp that could do nothing but flail at the handholds that it rushed past.

Tina accounted for yet another of the creatures before they finally reached the racing lift. The wind was whipping around the moving platform now, the atmosphere becoming thicker the closer to the ground they got. An Elcor crashed into the lift right in front of Benjamin, looming threateningly over him. The Alliance Captain was unfazed, lashing out with the butt of his rifle to stun the creature. As it stumbled back from the powerful blow, the Human spun, lashing out with his foot to catch it squarely in the centre of its face, the crackle of splintering cartilage followed by a spurt of green blood mingled with synthetic fluids. The Elcor stumbled back even further, tottering on the edge of the lift. Seeing his chance, Benjamin flipped his rifle around to fire at its feet, causing it to fall over the edge. Its fall was quickly arrested as it tumbled into one of the massive gears that powered the lift's motion while keeping it from dropping down the shaft. The entire platform hitched for a moment as the gear caught on the obstruction, but a brief tearing, squelching sound later it resumed its progress, the powerful machinery proving to be more than a match for the organic-synthetic hybrid's body.

Tina and Benjamin danced across the platform, dodging the continual assault from the thralls. Over time, the numbers thinned until only four remained. Benjamin panted as he slotted one of his last thermal clips into his weapon, noting that Tina was doing the same. He glanced over the edge of the lift to see the ground quickly approaching, tantalisingly close.

"Where's Nikolai?" He shouted over the throaty roars of the creatures. He scanned the land at the base of the skyhook, but could see no sign of the ATV or their comrade.

The lift came to a hurried halt at the bottom of the spire, the duo spilling out in a mad dash to escape their attackers. Benjamin fell back a couple of paces as he emptied his rifle into the powerful body of one of the Elcor thralls, buying Tina the opportunity to bound into cover behind a waiting freight cart. The pair struggled to keep the obstacle between themselves and the enemy, rapidly finding themselves overwhelmed by the swarming creatures.

The former Alliance Captain's gun hissed, its last clip spent. With a grunt of annoyance and frustration, Benjamin flung it at one of the enemy thralls, striking it in the face but not really achieving anything. He drew his pistol with one hand while reaching for the combat knife strapped to his belt with the other. He crouched, ready to spring at the nearest Elcor.

Before the Reaper slaves could make their final charge, a thunderous roar echoed about the base of the spire. Like a shark breaching as it seeks its prey upon the surface of the water, the ATV surged into view, engine screaming madly as its four wheels left the ground. It landed on top of two Elcor, crushing them underneath its massive weight. As it swerved, leaving deep grooves in the soil behind it, it struck yet another creature, sending it soaring and tumbling away in a mess of torn flesh and broken bones. As the craft skidded to a halt, a huge, muscular hand holding an equally large hand cannon reached out of the driver's window, blasting a fourth creature as it rounded on the vehicle. The last one, seeing its kin destroyed, tried to leap atop the craft, but the ATV swerved out of the way, quickly turning to run down the stumbling creature before it could attack again.

The driver's door opened to reveal the stern Nikolai, reloading one of his massive guns as he balanced the second one on the passenger seat.

"Come on!" He yelled.

Benjamin needed no second urging, rushing for the craft even as he heard the sounds of alarm spreading out from the spire, innumerable servants of the Reapers moving to converge on their position.

In seconds, the duo were inside the ATV, Nikolai gunning the engine and sending it roaring away from the massive Reaper construct. Sighing with relief, Benjamin sagged in one of the seats as the ATV set a course for home.

**~o~0~o~**

Night had well and truly set in by the time that the ATV, purring quietly for fear that the noise of the engine drew the attention of any of the indoctrinated, crawled through the streets of the quiet suburbs of London, fast approaching the entrance to the survivors' camp. Benjamin started as Tina struck him on the shoulder, urging him to wake up. Head bleary from the exhaustion-induced slumber, the Alliance Captain rubbed at his eyes for a second before glancing out of the front window of the craft at what his friend was so insistent that he look at. What he saw made him freeze, eyes growing wide with surprise, fear and anxiety.

Ahead, the entrance to the survivors' camp had been blasted wide open. Smoke poured from the gaping opening, the glow of still-burning flames flickering within. Even with the ATV's air filters, the scent of the fires seeped in, assaulting Benjamin's nostrils with the smell of burning wood, cloth and, most alarmingly of all, flesh.

**Author's Note: I'd like to apologise for my recent absence from here. The Old Republic ran away with a lot of my time, but I'd highly recommend it to anyone who's looking for a good Star Wars game. Anyway, hopefully my schedule will be a lot more balanced now, so you should see the update schedule returning to normal.**

**So in this chapter we see a little more about what the Reapers are doing to Earth and the full extent of the skyhook structure, a smaller version of which was seen in Athame's Shroud. Hope you liked this chapter, and I'll see you at the next update.**


	4. Chapter 4

_Author's notes: Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3 and all related characters and trademarks are property of EA/Bioware. Rated M for language, violence and suggestive themes._

**Chapter Four: Enslavement**

"_Don't know what they are, what they want or where they came from…"_

"Oh my god…" Tina breathed. "Please, no…"

Niko brought the ATV to a sudden halt next to the gaping maw of the blown-open hideout, the smoke and flames still lunged out on the wind, sparks soaring up into the sky in a glittering flurry. The moment the vehicle had come to a halt, Tina was at the hatch, leaping out to race towards the fire.

"Tina, wait!" Benjamin's shout was just a moment too late, the young woman was gone. Knowing the risks that likely lurked within the ruins of the camp, the Alliance Captain hurried after her, gun already in his hands.

The smoke was thick, instantly clogging Benjamin's throat, the scratching sensation bringing tears to his eyes. For what felt like the hundredth time since he'd parted company with Commander Shepard, the young Captain regretted losing his helmet, along with the breather installed inside. Regardless, he ploughed on into the breach, flinching as the tremendous heat assaulted his features, skin prickling as his eyes dried painfully and his nostrils twitched. Behind him, the ATV clanked as the hatch swung again, Nikolai leaping clear of the craft to hurry after his comrades.

Inside, the refugee camp smouldered, a number of the makeshift shacks set alight before the flames spread to the supplies and turning the underground sanctuary into an inferno. The majority of the fire's intensity had passed, most of the refugees' belongings already piles of smoking ash.

Benjamin raised an arm to protect his face from the blistering heat, pressing forward after the flickering silhouette of Tina's back.

The young woman raced forward, coming to an abrupt halt beside a pile of rubble. Coming up beside her, Benjamin and Nikolai realised that a pair of legs protruded from underneath, bloodied and bruised by the debris that had landed on top of it. Realising they could have been looking at one of their fellow refugees, the trio darted into action. Tina scooped clods of scaldingly hot ash away, ignoring the agony in her hands in the feverish desire to save whoever was under there. Moving to either side of her, Niko and Benjamin knelt to heave a slab of concrete off the buried form. In moments, the rubble had been cleared, revealing the unnaturally still body of James Kenney, the camp's de facto leader.

"No. No, no, no." Tina mumbled in an incessant string as she cradled the head of the man who had risen to almost father-figure status after taking her into his camp. Benjamin watched on with a sympathetic expression, jumping as Niko's huge hand clamped down on his arm.

"Did you hear that?" He asked, looking about furtively.

Benjamin joined him in scanning their surroundings, ears straining to pick anything out over the roar of the flames. Suddenly, he heard it, too. A thumping noise, barely audible over the crackle of flames. Reacting instantly, Benjamin retrieved his gun from its holster, looking towards the source of the noise.

Among the devastated crates, one remained totally intact. The thumping noises came from within, a rhythmic beat. Moving cautiously, Niko and Benjamin strode over to the crate, each standing to a different side. Benjamin nodded at Niko, then placed his hands over the lid of the sealed crate. Getting ready, Niko drew his bulky pistols, prepared to blast whatever was inside into oblivion. Taking a deep breath, Benjamin shoved at the lid.

A shape burst forth from within, gasping in a deep breath. The creature's mouth gaped wide, wheezing as its chest heaved, eyes staring around with almost animal intensity.

Benjamin leapt back, finger curling around his trigger. Just a hair's breadth from firing the gun, he stopped, finally recognising what it was that he'd set loose.

Ts'ao Lei struggled frantically to escape from the crate, oblivious to the guns pointed at her. She continued to breathe deeply, gasping in every lungful of air that she could. Benjamin could see that she was on the verge of panic, and rushed to help.

"Hey! Hey!" He shouted, trying to break through her hysteria as he wrapped his arms around her. Her frenzied gasps soon descended into terrified sobs, her body moulding to the Captain's as she latched onto him, desperate for some kind of strength to hide behind. Finally, the identity of her rescuer filtered through to her brain.

"B-Benny?" She asked breathlessly, her hands clasping more tightly with recognition. "Benny!"

"It's alright, Lei." Benjamin soothed, running his hand through her hair comfortingly. "I'm here."

"They came about an hour after you left. The- the monsters." She gulped back a sob. "There were so many, moaning and gasping." She paused, her eyes widening. "Oh my god! They killed Kenney!"

"It's okay." Benjamin hushed her. "We've got you now. You'll be alright."

"I- I hid in the crate to get away. They never found me. Then, the crate started getting hot, and I couldn't breathe…"

"Niko, take her back to the ATV." Benjamin ordered. The tall Russian nodded, bringing the young woman under his arm as he shepherded her out. The pair stepped to the side, walking around a bleary-eyed Tina that approached Benjamin. The Captain turned to her, nodding his condolences.

"Tina, I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Tina sniffed, rubbing at eyes that stung from the smoke drifting through the cavern. "It's not your fault. It was those damn things."

Benjamin turned to where she pointed, seeing the charred forms of two Husks trapped under yet more rubble, their metal implants gleaming brightly under the sooty remains of their flesh. He turned back to his friend.

"C'mon." He urged. "Let's try and find the others."

The pair delved deeper into the camp, Tina moving with renewed resolve. She matched Benjamin step-for-step in her determination as she shoved pieces of debris aside to look underneath, flinching back from fires that rekindled to an inrush of air, covering her nose and mouth to block out most of the smoke swirling through the air. Suddenly, she paused, her breath catching in her throat in a sharp intake.

"Ugh." Benjamin turned at her gasp. "I think I've just found Steven."

The young man had literally been ripped to shreds, no remaining part of his body any larger than his hand. A dark splotch that may have been what remained of his blood stained the floor, the fire burning away the majority of the fluid. Fortunately, his head could not be found, sparing them whatever expression he had borne before death, but what flesh remained easily identified the young man.

"Those… damn monsters!" Tina cursed. "How could they do this?"

"They're not Human anymore." Benjamin reminded her. "They could be capable of anything."

"Yeah." She sighed. "Come on. We've still gotta find Aminah and Nadim."

They moved past the grisly scene, almost at the far end of the camp by this point. Suddenly, they rounded the last camp to spot their two missing friends. Benjamin's brow twisted as his expression dropped.

Aminah was kneeling over her brother's corpse, clutching him to her desperately. Her sobs had long since passed from vocalisations of grief into silent shudders of her shoulders, her entire body convulsing. She had her back turned to the duo, her raven black hair cascading over her shoulders with every shudder. Her brother, Nadim, was very clearly dead, his face spattered with blood, presumably from the gaping hole in his chest. His head lolled back limply, waving from side to side with every convulsion of his sister's body. Looking just as crestfallen as Benjamin felt, Tina rushed forward to lean next to Aminah, squeezing her shoulder.

"Mina… I'm so sorry."

With stunning alacrity, Aminah spun around, discarding her brother's corpse. One hand darted out, fingers stiffening as the flesh split apart to reveal her finger bones, all transmuted into a silvery-blue metal. The hand blurred, finishing its shining arc by embedding itself within Tina's shoulder.

Tina released a little gurgle, a confused look crossing her features as her eyes met Aminah's, only to see the blue glow of indoctrination in her gaze. Almost immediately, a bright glow started flowing from her fingers, flooding into Tina's wound and causing her blood to fluoresce.

Benjamin's gun came up, releasing a spray of bullets. Aminah flinched from the attack, snarling as she withdrew her fingers from Tina's shoulder and leapt away from the soldier's attack. Benjamin followed her, not letting up on the trigger.

The indoctrinated Aminah shrieked as she leapt about acrobatically, one moment landing in a crouch on the ground, the next soaring up to touch down gently on the apex of a burnt-out shack, her feet curling unnaturally to clamp down on the perilous perch. She paused, body fluorescing, then sent a devastating biotic Warp blast barrelling towards the soldier. Benjamin leapt out of the way, just avoiding the attack. Aware of Tina's injury, he tried to keep the creature's attention, firing wildly at Aminah as she dove out of the way. The indoctrinated woman howled, lips peeling back from her teeth in a feral grimace as she fingered a bullet hole that had been freshly torn through her torso. Seeing blood anointing her fingertips, she screamed, lunging at Benjamin. She crossed the distance in the blink of an eye, the Captain's gun barely able to keep track of her charging form before she tackled him. Howling, she ripped the gun from his fingers, flinging it away before hoisting him over her head. Benjamin struggled fruitlessly, feeling like a pitiful, weak infant in her grasp. All too suddenly, he was airborne, hurled into a pile of dirt hard enough to rattle his brain around in his skull.

Aminah smirked hungrily as she looked down at him, moving closer with predatory grace. She leaned down, staring at her fingers as she held her hand before her face. The fingertips still glistened with Tina's blood, dagger-like bones stretching out an extra inch or so as she made ready to stab at the dazed soldier.

Boom.

The gunshot was thunderously loud to Benjamin, immediately followed by an explosion of gore as Aminah's head split open, blood and grey matter showering down over him as her now-headless body toppled to one side.

Just three paces away, Niko lowered his still-smoking gun, working the reloading mechanism to slide a new bullet into the chamber. He looked down at Aminah's corpse dispassionately, then over to Benjamin, who slowly got to his feet, nodding his thanks.

Once he had regained his feet, Benjamin rushed over to the now prone form of Tina, scooping up his dropped rifle in passing.

"Tina!"

He rolled her over, quickly scanning her shoulder. The wound ran deep, but the blood flowing from it was already beginning to slow. He looked more closely, seeing what looked like a spider's web of metallic blue tendrils criss-crossing the wound, stanching the bleeding. Tina looked back up at him as his expression twisted, a mixture of confusion and worry showing.

"How bad is it?"

"I have no idea." Benjamin admitted. "But we're going to do what we can for you."

"If I've been infected, you need to make sure it doesn't take hold." Tina nodded pointedly at his gun. "I'm not gonna end up a puppet, like Mina or Jerry."

Benjamin sensed Niko shifting behind him, tensing in preparation for taking the necessary steps. He held his hand out, forcing the lumbering hulk of a man to stay back.

"Let's not jump to any conclusions here." He said hesitantly.

"Ben," Tina smiled affectionately, head tilting to the side. "We all know how this is going to play out. You can't afford to take me with you, otherwise I'll just accomplish the task they intended Jerry to carry out. The Reapers will know exactly what we're doing, where we're going, who we meet. Eventually, they'll make me kill you."

"But they haven't done it yet." Benjamin contradicted firmly. "We could still find a way to reverse this."

"You can't risk it." Tina protested.

"We can, and we will." Benjamin turned to Nikolai. "Help her back to the ATV." The towering Russian hesitated. "Now!"

**~o~0~o~**

Lei was waiting for the trio as they clambered back out of the opening, leaving the burning camp behind. The young woman's brows rose questioningly as she took in all three of them, noting that Tina was injured. Her gaze then drifted behind them, returning to meet Benjamin's eyes. The Captain shook his head, feeling her pain as her expression lost all hints of hope. Wordlessly, Lei moved to help lift Tina into the ATV. In moments, the quartet had loaded up, and the vehicle was in motion once again. Inside, all four sighed wearily, the night's events having taken their toll.

"So…" Tina said, her strength returning as her wound vanished. "What now?"

"We need to find somewhere safe to hole up, take stock." Nikolai said over his shoulder, keeping his eyes focused on their path.

"Agreed." Lei said. "However, we also need to find a way to communicate with outside forces. Its clear that the Reapers are stepping up their efforts to wipe out all survivors. We need to send out the intel we've gathered to whoever might be listening."

"And how do you suggest we do that?" Tina asked dismissively. "The planetary comm network is down. Earth is completely off the grid right now."

"There's a comm station in New York." Lei explained, looking to Benjamin furtively. "It's equipped with a special type of comm array called a Quantum Entanglement Communicator, or QEC. It can link with a matching array on the opposite side of the galaxy, regardless of distance or interference."

"S'yeah, right!" Tina scoffed. "The Reapers would have destroyed it immediately."

"They wouldn't have found it." Lei countered. "The array is completely undetectable. It doesn't use any frequency that can be tracked."

"Then why wasn't it used before now?"

"Because I doubt there's anyone left alive on this planet who could have known it's there. This array was beyond top secret."

"Then how do you know about it?" Benjamin asked, speaking for the first time during the conversation.

Lei hesitated, taking a deep breath.

"Special operative Ts'ao Lei, of the Shadow Broker Network."

"I have heard of this 'Shadow Broker'." Niko said. "He is leading some kind of network of spies, da?"

"We're a little more than spies, but you're close enough." Lei allowed.

"This QEC belongs to your network?" Benjamin asked.

"Yeah." Lei activated her omnitool. "My 'tool is linked to a planetary network that links me to all Shadow Network QEC hubs on the planet. All but one have been de-activated, probably as my fellow agents tried to power them up."

"Wait…" Tina interjected. "I thought you said that the array couldn't be detected."

"It is, but the generators powering it will be a big beacon drawing enemies to it."

"So, we power this thing up, we'll be signing our own death warrants?"

"And we'll only have a very short window to exploit. The good news is that the QEC is guaranteed to get the message out, and only the intended recipient will get it. The Reapers won't have a clue what we're sending."

"Doesn't matter." Nikolai said flatly. "Reapers will destroy the place in minutes."

"One minute would be all we'd need for a clear transmission." Lei reasoned. "We're running out of time. They're wiping out surviving pockets of Humanity, one by one. If we don't risk the transmission, then the rest of the Galaxy is just gonna keep on preparing for the war, only to get back here and find out that there's no one left." She looked to Benjamin. "If Shepard's out there, gathering an army, he needs to know just how dire things are getting here on Earth."

"And he needs to receive all the intel we've gathered." Benjamin added. "The implantation techniques to create sleeper agents and the network of skyhooks."

"No matter how Shepard reacts to it, this intel could be used to save countless lives, both on Earth and beyond." Lei said.

"Okay, so what can you tell me about this array?" Benjamin leaned forward, already starting to formulate strategies.

"It's actually a part of a much larger complex, originally intended to monitor all traffic within the system. However, after certain troubling developments in the Dholen system, a star system deep within Geth Space, the complex was repurposed to monitor the sun."

"The sun?" Tina asked. "Why?"

"It was meant to watch for any signs of Dark Energy fluctuations. Ultimately that's what caused the star in the Dholen System to collapse."

"Is possible." Niko admitted. "Dark Energy has many properties. Manipulation of mass and gravity. Could easily be used to destroy a star."

"Needless to say, we wanted to make sure that didn't happen to the heart of Alliance Space." Lei said. "The complex is full of sensor arrays, monitoring every little gravitational detail about the system."

"This sensor farm…" Benjamin cupped his chin. "Could we hook it up to the QEC? Send out real-time readings of the system?"

"Yeah." Lei said slowly. "Then the people on the other end would get a complete scan of the system. The entire skyhook network, plus whatever the Reapers are doing in orbit, whatever it is that they're taking all of those resources to. This intel could shape the entire course of any operation to take the system back."

"Alright!" Benjamin clapped his hands together purposefully. "We know what we're doing. Question is, how do we get there?"

Nikolai looked back over his shoulder, a smile on his lips.

"I think I am having idea about that."

**Author's Note: Yeah... I put this together entirely in one night. Been kinda busy these past few days, but I just had the writeys this past night, so I've been at it for the past few hours. I'm pretty happy with it. I'd really appreciate any and all feedback you could provide.**

**I'm going to be away for almost two weeks, so I probably won't be able to post any more updates for the duration of that period. I will, however, keep writing. I should have at least a couple more Into The Unknown chapters to post, as well as (maybe) something for my smaller fics. ****Speaking of smaller fics... would you guys be interested to read another background-type fic once resistance is finished? I was thinking to do maybe a planet-by-planet relation of different groups of survivors. I was thinking maybe to do something about what happened on Tuchanka while Shepard was elsewhere next. I don't know, maybe it's a little too cliched?**

**Anyway, that's about it for now. I'm still going through Mass Effect 3, so I'm not in a position to give a proper review. From what I have seen so far, Most of the game is excellent, from mechanics to design, but a lot of the storytelling delves into methods and resorts to means I'm not particularly happy to see in a tale of this caliber. But, as I said, there's still a way to go, so I still need to reserve full judgement. I guess I'll voice my full opinions later.**

**Fainmaca Out.**


	5. Chapter 5

_Author's notes: Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3 and all related characters and trademarks are property of EA/Bioware. Rated M for language, violence and suggestive themes._

**Chapter Five: Exodus**

"_Only one thing is certain…"_

Wind whistled hollowly through the empty streets, a mournful howl reaching up to the grey embers of the sky above. Overhead, the thick clouds curled and boiled, shot through with the occasional glow of hellish red light, a reflection of the vast blazes roaring through the city below. Other than this, all was still as silence reigned over the ruins of London.

Scritch-clack. Scritch-scritch-clack. Scrititch-clack.

The erratic sound was faint, almost lost among the gusts of wind. Slowly, steadily, it grew louder, until finally the figure the tiny noise had heralded shambled into view.

She was a dirty little figure, clad in the rags of her old clothes. A homeless woman to begin with, Ellie Dowson was not accustomed to many luxuries, and so had lost little in the course of the invasion. And yet, what little had been taken from her seemed all the more devastating to lose, of a greater personal value than anything those of a higher station in life had been forced to leave to the invaders.

She shuffled about, leaning down to shift a broken slab of concrete aside, the loud scrape of its motion succeeded by the echoing crack of it being dropped, rolled aside with little care. Filth-caked fingers scrabbled through the muck, finding nothing she considered valuable. Turning away with expressionless features, she moved on to the next pile of debris. Her movements were stiff, awkward, all too easily recognised as the movements of a being in shock. Given her surroundings, such an idea was understandable.

Rubble shifted off to one side, prompting the ragged woman to spin, eyes flashing sharp in the murk. Plumes of dust puffed upwards as smaller pieces of rock, concrete and other detritus flowed down a large mound that had once been half of a tenement block. A gaunt figure clambered over the crest of the mound, revealing itself to the woman.

The new shape was thin, unnaturally so. Flesh was pulled taut over a deformed bone structure. Glowing wires ran across skin stained blue by unknowable chemicals flowing through the creature's veins. It turned its head, barely more than a skull as the flesh was stripped away to nothing more than a token covering. Eyes drawn back deep into their sockets shone with a sapphire brilliance as paper-thin lips curled back from its teeth in a grisly rictus. Air seeped up from within its lungs, but the growling shriek that escaped from its throat was more animal than human.

Several more Husks appeared around Ellie, descending from the rubble with a bestial four-limbed gait. The desolate Human simply watched as they approached, her features deathly still.

As the Husks approached the feet of the ragged lady, more shapes began to emerge from the shadows, over a dozen people following the Husks down into the muck. Soon, the woman was surrounded by a mixture of Humans and Husks, all staring at her in grim silence.

Ellie stared back, eyes unblinking. The standoff lasted for but a moment, then They spoke. The noise rose up in the minds of all present, drowning out all other inputs. There was no thought, there was no feeling, there was only Their word. Their will. Their commands.

Minds as vastly different from Ellie's as hers was to that of an ant reached out to touch her consciousness, lowering themselves to commune with being whose minds inhabited such a lowly plane of understanding. In an instant, what remained of Ellie inside her skull, the tiny, screaming voice that hammered against the adamantine bars that had grown around it, was effortlessly drowned out, silenced by the awe the rest of her brain felt to be graced with the mere acknowledgement of such superior beings. Warmth flowed through her veins as she accepted the certainty that she was on the right course, that this was where she belonged. That she'd been waiting all of her life for the chance to serve her new masters.

In a flash, the all-too-fleeting contact was severed, the instructions relayed. Without needing to utter a word to those around her, Ellie began pointing, issuing silent commands that all around her, Husk and Human alike, moved to follow without question. Under the watchful eye of this superior among equals, the amassed cluster of bedraggled creatures set to work.

A sudden noise drew the attention of all present, a loud crash followed by a screaming roar of tortured metal. A flash of light cast uncertain shadows mere streets away. Ellie turned to those under her authority, eyes blazing a brilliant blue as she opened her mouth far wider than nature had intended, an unearthly shriek tearing loose from her lungs to rend the sky.

Almost immediately, all present burst into motion, racing towards the source of the ruckus. The Husks led the charge, the expendable resources that could meet any resistance offered head-on. They loped along using both hands and feet, scrambling across walls with as much ease as they traversed the ground. Moving behind them with similar animalistic fervour were the Humans, teeth glinting as lips curled back in predatory snarls. At the heart of this group raced Ellie, eyes blazing as brightly like twin stars as she dropped into a four-limbed lope similar to those of the Husks. Her muscles bunched, launching her forwards to catch herself on the side of a burnt-out building, well over a dozen metres from her original starting point. Another bound launched her forward again, bringing her closer to the front ranks. Yet one more leap propelled her beyond the foremost line of Husks, whereupon she slowed to accommodate their pace, leading the charge from the very front of the formation.

Moments later, a speeding vehicle tore into view, a military all-terrain vehicle with only two of its four wheels touching the ground, the other pair spinning madly as it careened around a corner at incredible speeds. The craft struck a pile of debris, launching itself into the air before landing with a loud crash, bouncing uncertainly on its wheels. Ellie's eyes locked on this vehicle, another scream tearing loose from her throat as she angled to intercept, the pale horde behind her doing the same.

**~o~0~o~**

Benjamin winced as the ATV struck the ground again, adding another dent to its already impressive collection. He moved closer to Nikolai, leaning over the big Russian's shoulder to watch him working.

"I can't believe we're actually trying this." He muttered, glancing at one of Nikolai's many screens, through which he could see the feed from camera's mounted across the ATV's hull. "There's no way it's gonna work."

"It would be easier if you would be silent!" Niko growled through grit teeth, his large hands darting across his controls in a frantic effort to keep the ATV on course.

The ATV darted down a side street, surging out from between two mostly intact buildings to emerge onto a wide main road, Niko gunning the engines in the more spacious surroundings. In the camera feed watching the rear of the craft, the horde of indoctrinated creatures receded just a little before they put on an extra surge of speed, moving with superhuman speed to keep pace with the fleeing vehicle.

Benjamin flinched back from the feed as another ATV appeared before the craft, Nikolai's quick reflexes the only thing keeping the two craft from colliding. The opposing vehicle struck a wall with a terrible crash, pausing for a moment before reversing, turning and rejoining the chase, the Husk ranks parting to make way for the craft before closing up around it on all sides. The roof of the ATV split open, the vehicle's turret deploying to fire wildly at the hunted vehicle.

"What?" Lei leaned closer to her screen, staring at the same feeds Niko was receiving. She gasped as her sharp eyes took in whatever detail had first drawn her attention. "Those are Alliance soldiers! I'd recognise that uniform anywhere!"

"The soldiers are always the first to turn." Tina's voice caused Benjamin and Lei to glance back to her.

The young woman was sitting, hunched over with her arms curled around her stomach. Sweat glistened on her skin, even in the cold air. As she glanced up, Benjamin noted the dark pattern staining the skin of her neck, a circuit board imprinted on her flesh like some kind of tattoo. It hadn't spread much further than her shoulder, but it was gaining ground.

"They're the ones fighting these things, protecting the civilians." She explained. "It just means they're the first ones the Reapers capture. Eventually the fighters are all turned, and then they move their attention on to the rest. The hiders, the scurriers, the survivors." She raised a shaking hand, pointing to her temple. "I can feel their memories of the previous cycles, in here. Events repeat themselves. Tactics evolve along the same lines, species fall back to the same positions, and eventually civilisation falls in the same way." She paused, a look of confusion crossing her features. "And yet… not this time."

A loud curse from Nikolai interrupted Benjamin before he could ask any more questions. The former Alliance soldier glanced over his companion's shoulder to see that the ATV had reached the River Thames, its progress suddenly hampered by the broad expanse of water before it. More military craft had joined the chase, a veritable army gathering behind the craft. Gunfire sounded out loudly, stitching trails of destruction around the fleeing craft, now beginning to limp somewhat from damage already sustained.

"I cannot shake them in these narrow streets!" The burly man complained, hands moving expertly over the controls to keep it moving.

"Head to the East." Tina's voice sounded faint, but there was no hesitation in her tone. "You'll end up on the Northbound Highway. It cuts pretty much a straight line towards Newcastle."

"A highway won't exactly offer much cover." Benjamin cautioned.

"As I recall, this plan doesn't really hinge on us keeping the old thing in one piece, does it?" Lei reminded him.

"I am doing it." Niko said, issuing the appropriate set of commands through his console.

**~o~0~o~**

Ellie bounded after the ATV, her upgrades allowing her to keep pace with it easily, even at its reckless speed. She snarled as she pushed those upgrades to their very limits, forcing herself forward with a few leaps to land atop the craft. She set about scurrying across its hull, looking for an access point that she could exploit.

Suddenly, the ATV twisted, spinning in an unexpected direction, almost directly back into the oncoming horde. Without shedding a single ounce of its speed, the craft raced down another street, expertly dodging its pursuers as they hastened to repeat its manoeuvre around the tight turn.

Ellie was hurled to one side by the move, fingers scraping across the smooth metal hull until she finally slid over the side of the ATV with a screech. Her fingers finally found purchase around a large hole that a round from the pursuing ATV's gun had created. Her salvation came just a moment too late, however, as her legs flailed wildly at thin air before her momentum threw them into the arch of one of the rumbling wheels that bore the craft through its insane journey.

The indoctrinated woman screamed as the wheel caught her legs, the friction almost setting her flesh alight as she struggled to pull herself free. The stench of burning flesh and blood rose up around her along with a thick, oily smoke. Metal protested as it got caught between the wheel and the metal of the ATV, the shrill noise of it being ground down drowning out the woman's screams.

Finally, with all of the effort the creature could muster, the being that had once been Ellie Dowson clawed its way out of the wheel arch, hauling itself up onto the roof of the ATV. Both of its legs were damaged beyond recognition, one worn away to a bloody nub just below the knee, the other to midway up the thigh. One side of her abdomen had been scoured of all flesh, leaving nothing but charred tissue and shining metal while rags of skin and her clothes clung to her other side. The gleaming blue metal of her implants shone through, already setting to work sealing the wounds.

She crawled her way up and over the roof of the craft, her fingers scrabbling for a way into the ATV. She glanced along the length of the craft, spotting the tiny lens of a camera pointed right at her. She let out another fearsome shriek, then ripped the device away with a swipe of her hand.

**~o~0~o~**

Lei leaned back from her screen as the feed of the monstrous woman crawling about on the roof of the ATV descended into static. Her breath hissed through her teeth as she closed the now-useless feed.

"She could be a problem."

No matter." Niko said over his shoulder, equally aware of the vehicle's newest passenger. "We only need to keep this going for a little longer. The highway is not far now."

**~o~0~o~**

The ATV screamed up the highway's on-ramp, racing along the broad, six-lane roadway at a breakneck pace. The craft's controller expertly navigated around the rubble that littered the way, using the occasional large piece of debris to dodge some incoming fire. Behind, the small army of pursuers charged after it heedlessly, military craft and Husks barging over the rubble effortlessly, only the mad tactics of the ATV's driver keeping the hunters from chasing down their prey.

On the rooftop of the ATV, the creature that had been Ellie clawed its way towards the rear hatch, her arms straining against the metal to try and prise it open. Even with her enhanced strength, her injuries and the vehicle's motion kept her from succeeding. She growled in frustration, striking the metal hull of the craft hard enough to split the skin of her palm open, heedless of the blood that flowed from the wound.

There was a loud roar overhead, then a pair of gunships hove into view, aiming at the fleeing ATV. Their guns blazed, stitching the road surface around the vehicle with bullet holes. Finally, two rockets roared down, striking the ATV's side.

The craft swerved to the side chaotically, its wheels leaving the ground as it tilted dangerously. Even so, it managed to keep moving until a second volley of rockets finally hurled it onto its back. The indoctrinated woman clinging to its back held on desperately, heedless of the danger to her form in the pursuit of the occupants of the vehicle.

The stricken ATV rolled wildly for some seconds, finally tumbling to a halt against a huge chunk of debris. Flames began to spew from ruptures in the craft's hull. Out of the carnage crawled the Ellie-creature, its face a mangled mess of torn flesh. It heaved itself over the burning wreck, finally reaching the access hatch just as its kin surrounded the vehicle, dozens of Husks, Thralls and military vehicles grinding to a swift halt as the gunships watched on from above.

With a hoarse cry, the indoctrinated woman tore the hatch open, glaring down inside. She paused with a jolt, caught off-guard by the ATV's contents.

The operating console had been torn out, a comm relay put in its place and wired into the craft's inner workings. The driver's seat sat tauntingly empty, save for a small package covered in flickering green lights.

Confused, the Reaper Thrall lowered itself into the vehicle, approaching the device slowly. It lifted the package, glancing at the lights as they all slowly stopped blinking then turned an angry red. Moments too late, the remains of Ellie Dowson realised what it was holding. Just too late to sound any kind of warning.

The bomb detonated with a terrible, thunderous crash, flames and superheated air incinerating the Ellie-creature, the ATV and a large number of the indoctrinated throng around it. Some of the vehicles parked too close were flipped over onto their sides, crushing yet more of the creatures close by. The engines of the gunships struggled to compensate for the blast, one of the craft falling out of the sky to create an explosion of its own while the other slammed into the ground then fell silent. After the bright light and the deafening roar of the explosion faded, next to none of the gathered throng remained alive, a few Husks and one or two Thralls moving about slowly through the wreckage.

**~o~0~o~**

Niko leaned back from his console, sighing with relief. His hands reached up to run his fingers through his hair, weariness settling on his shoulders with a great weight.

"It is done."

"Then we won't have much time before they start looking for the people controlling the ATV." Benjamin concluded. "Let's get going."

The four companions slowly stood, Lei giving Tina a helping hand as they clambered out of their hiding place. Benjamin led the way, shouldering aside the sheet of metal that he had placed over the entrance to their temporary refuge, a goods vehicle turned on its side. Sticking together, they scaled a nearby pile of debris to look down upon their newest goal: the burnt out remains of the Heathrow Spaceport.

**Author's Note: Feels refreshing to get back to Benny and his crew. I hope you liked the way I wrote this one.**

**Anway, the vote for Into The Unknown Chapter 46 is still up, so I'd really appreciate it if you could go on over to my profile page and let me know which course of action you favour. I'll leave the vote open until I've written the next Squadmate-led Side Mission chapter (Chapter 48), then I'll go back and write Chapter 47 with the consequences of that choice.**

**So that's it for now. Favourites and Reviews are appreciated!**

**Fainmaca Out.**


	6. Chapter 6

_Author's notes: Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3 and all related characters and trademarks are property of EA/Bioware. Rated M for language, violence and suggestive themes._

**Chapter Six: Erebus**

"_If Shepard doesn't bring help soon…"_

Benjamin drummed his fingers on the armrest of his seat, watching the displays before him with casual boredom. Around him, the shuttle ticked quietly, the metal of its hull occasionally emitting a low growl, a symptom of the immense pressure it was being forced to endure.

Stealing the shuttle from the burned-out Spaceport had been easy enough, thanks to Niko's distraction with the remote controlled ATV. The Russian's theatricality with the improvised vehicle had even made flying through British airspace relatively easy, provided they stuck close to the ground and Lei kept an eye on the ladar screens for any signs of more Reaper forces in the air. In no time, the grim streets of London had been left behind, filth-strewn streets giving way to rolling hills which finally terminated in an abrupt, rocky coast that marked the Eastern shores of the Atlantic. The moment he had been able to, the former Alliance soldier had steered the shuttle down until it skimmed the surface of the waves, then plunged the craft into the dark waters of the ocean. The group had unanimously agreed that it was the best way to avoid detection, with the Reapers unlikely to be encountered in force in a place where no Humans would be found.

And so down, down, deep into the blackness they had plunged, relying purely on the shuttle's navigational instruments as the water outside transformed into a black wall right on the other side of the viewport. While the shuttle was normally designed for hard vacuum, it was coping incredibly well with the pressure of several dozen atmospheres pressing in on it, internal systems keeping the passengers comfortable.

Looking up at the black viewport, Benjamin suppressed a shudder. He'd thought he was okay with darkness. After all, many of his missions as a defender of Humanity had occurred in the blackest of nights, when stealth was of the utmost importance. But even then, there was always something to see by. The glow of his gun's ammo counter, the faint luminescence of the stars, the looming lights of the enemy installation. But down here, hundreds, maybe even thousands of metres below the surface of the sea, not even the tiniest flicker of light, not even a single photon, could make its home. This was darkness beyond darkness. The black heart of the night. The freezing murk of Dark Space, from whence the Reapers had escaped.

A shiver raced its way up his spine at that last thought, his brain finally circling around to the thought of his enemies. His knuckles whitened as his fingers curled around the armrest, anger flaring in the pit of his stomach as he thought of the rampant slaughter he had seen in the resistance camp in London. Of the final insult the Reapers had imposed on Jerry as he felt his humanity stripped away piece by piece, and on Mina as she was used to kill her own brother. If he ever got the chance, he'd-

Lei dropped down in the seat next to him, snapping him out of his current line of thinking before it reached its conclusion. He jumped a little in his chair, turning to her as she regarded him with a cautious stare. Her head tilted to one side as she took in the grey skin that covered his face, the dark circles under his eyes.

"You look beat, Ben."

"I think we're all feeling the strain." He muttered back, reluctantly agreeing with her assessment silently.

"Yeah, but you've been at the wheel here non-stop since we started. Niko and I have both had our chances to get some sleep, at least."

"I'll sleep once we're all safe."

"Safe? In this Galaxy?" Lei chuckled hollowly. "I think you'd have more chance of seeing a Vorcha wearing a suit."

Benjamin remained silent as he stared out of the viewport again. He was finding it hard to look away. As intimidating as the view was, it pulled at his eyes, compelling him to look. He jumped in fright again as Lei's hand squeezed his shoulder.

"Get some shuteye, Captain. I promise to wake you if something horrible happens."

"Alright." He sighed. "But I want to know if even the smallest thing happens, okay?"

"You got it." Lei saluted smartly, a smirk on her face. "I mean, 'Sir, yes Sir!'"

"Cute." Benjamin grumbled, a wry smile crossing his face, soon slipping away as he turned to fix his eyes on Tina, slumped in the back of the shuttle. "How is she?"

"Coping, I think." Lei's expression bore just as much concern's as the Captain's. "It looks like she's in a lot of pain, but she won't take any meds for it. She wants to keep her mind sharp. At least she's getting some sleep."

Benjamin leaned back in his chair, staring at the immobile woman with a pensive air. Tina was curled up in the deepest corner of the shuttle compartment, one hand reaching up to squeeze her injured shoulder tightly, something that must have caused her immense pain. Her skin was pale white, glossy with sweat. From where he was sitting, Benjamin could see a spider's web of lines etching themselves across her skin, tracing a pattern like a circuit board over her shoulder and down her arm. Only the very tips of her fingers had not been claimed by the markings, the rest of her limb covered. As she shifted in her slumber, the young Captain noted that the lines had also found their way to her neck, although they seemed to be holding back from assaulting the skin of her head.

Benjamin averted his gaze as Tina shifted in her sleep, a low whimper escaping from her as her fingers were pressed more firmly into her wound before she settled in her new position. Her eyes opened briefly, scanning the shuttle, before she slipped back into her fitful slumber.

His mind besieged by worries, Benjamin rose from his seat, moving back into the passenger compartment of the shuttle. He sat down next to Niko, the Russian sitting with his head tilted right back, his hair swaying as his body heaved to every deep, vibrating snore that escaped from his wide open mouth. The younger man nudged him in the ribs to awaken him, summoning forth a none-too delicate snort, before Benjamin settled down to get a little rest himself, the Russian wordlessly positioning himself in such a way as to keep watch over the group's leader and the stricken woman. Comfortable in the knowledge that he wasn't needed for the time being, Benjamin settled down and was soon lost to the land of the conscious, dropping into a deep, dreamless sleep whose blackness wasn't nearly as absolute as that which surrounded the shuttle.

**~o~0~o~**

The cold was getting to be unbearable. For three long hours, the biting chill had wormed its way through her flesh, working its way down to her fingers and seeping through her blood to cause sparkles of sharp pain throughout her body. Occasionally a twinge would pass through her lungs, or her heart, causing her chest to spasm, but she didn't have the strength to cry out. Instead, Tina remained motionless, pinned in place.

The shoulder had long since gone numb, the gaping rent where Mina's inhuman fingers had sliced through skin, muscle and bone having ceased its burning pain. Now, where once blinding white sensation had dulled her senses, only empty blackness remained. She sensed more than felt the corruption lurking within the arm, a cloud of black fog that took on the shape her flesh had once borne. Every once in a while she'd feel the restrictive web of skin and circuitry that defined the outline of her arm, keeping the poison in check so that it didn't dissipate entirely. And yet, the web wasn't there to imprison the rot. Rather, it gave it guidance, purpose, form. Underneath this enclosing cage she could feel change being wrought, alterations on the most basic of level rippling up through more complex forms until the whole essence of her existence moved around the modifications. She was being rebuilt for a purpose, the instigators having a plan for her new form. The thought of that sparked a warmth in her heart, a morsel of comfort in the storm of chaos she had endured over the past few weeks. Contentment flooded through her mind. All would be well.

_No!_ Her inner core stamped down on the feeling. _That's not me!_

She wrestled the treacherous sensation of security away from her thoughts, pushing it aside as she allowed her fear, her anger, her overwhelming concern to step to the fore, dominating her thoughts. The whisper of happiness turned into a feral snarl, retreating to find another path.

Silence filled Tina's skull, her thoughts vanishing one by one. Like a child afraid of the night, she clutched at her awareness of the space around her as though it were a candle that would chase away the shadows of emptiness that shared her very soul. The rasp of her breath in her chest, the rustle of her clothes as her lungs expanded and contracted. The sharp taste of the thick coating that now covered her tongue and glued it to the roof of her mouth. The smell of oil and Niko's heavy musk that filled the air. The murmurs of conversation between her friends.

"Friends? I'm surprised even you could be that naïve, Teen."

The ugly chuckle brought Tina roaring back to full awareness, her eyes snapping open. A grey fog filled her vision, the vague shadows of her comrades a faint presence on the periphery of her gaze. The fog parted, however, directly across from her, the air startlingly clear around the seat that faced her. In that seat lurked James Kenney, a broad, warm smile on his face.

"James?"

The Irishman's smile held as he nodded his head, his rusty red hair dancing with every movement of his skull. As his head dipped, the bald patch on his crown reflected the overhead lights, a twinkle that his eyes held onto and beamed out threefold.

"But you're-"

"Am I?" He interrupted. "Or are you, maybe? Perhaps we all are." He waved a hand out to indicate the others, although Tina didn't bother to look in their direction. "I never was one for all those philosophical discussions."

"You're not real." Tina asserted, trying to dismiss the mirage with the statement.

"Maybe I'm not, but I'll tell you what is real, my girl. The Reapers are real. Their invasion of your home is real. The war they're waging with your friends is very real." He leaned forward, his eyes flashing threateningly. "And most of all, gel, the technology they put inside you is real. What its going to do to you, and what its going to make you do to your so-called allies will be realer than anything else you've ever experienced. That is, unless they get you first."

"I'd rather die than serve the Reapers!"

"Would you? Do you have any idea how many people say that? Would you like to know how many of them lie?" Kenney sat back as his arms folded across his chest. "I saw it all the time in the military. So-called patriots willing to martyr themselves for the cause, only to throw down their guns almost before the first bullets start flying. Its very easy to make a promise like that when you believe that you won't have to follow through on it."

"I don't have to listen to you. You're nothing but a lie They want to use to control me. To trick me" Tina rolled away, covering her ears.

She shuddered at the warmth of the first hand to touch her face, then jumped as the icy contact of the second one registered. She looked at the offending hand, covered in complex patterns of wiring, the skin turning a pallid grey where it stretched between the metal. She froze, regarding the hand for a long moment.

"They're a part of you now." A different voice reached her ears, a tone tinged with sadness. "There's no point in fighting when the war is already over."

Tina rolled back to face the source of the voice, her eyebrows rising as she looked into Aminah's mournful face. Where James had appeared in his peak condition, Mina bore the scars of her demise. Her brother's blood still stained her clothes, while a network of scars criss-crossed her face, marks from the shot Niko had delivered to end her existence. Her hand, curled up in her lap, still dripped with blood, this time Tina's own. As the stockier woman regarded the graceful hallucination, her shoulder twinged, a reaction to the memory of the injury the creature before her had delivered. The corners of Mina's eyes creased as she watched her old friend.

"I didn't want to hurt you, Teen. You know that, right? What happened wasn't my fault. But I had to protect myself. You would have killed me anyway, once you'd found out what I really was."

"Only to save you."

"Save me? By killing me? What kind of twisted logic do you use to justify that?" The dead woman's laugh was hollow, flat. "Do I really deserve death, just for becoming something different to you? Will you?"

"Ben will try to find a cure for me." Tina dodged the question, throwing up a defensive statement that Aminah quickly saw through. The dark-skinned woman shook her head sorrowfully.

"There is no cure to be found, Tina. You cannot cure evolution. Once the process takes hold, you will be advanced whether the change has your blessing or not. And once the changes take hold, your so-called allies will murder you. Niko did not hesitate to kill me, and you can be sure he has a bullet ready for you."

"Then why do they still trust me?" Tina countered. "Why haven't they killed me yet?"

"Can't you even see that?" Aminah shook her head again. "They hope to use you. You give them leverage in their crusade against the Reapers. A window into the enemy's tactics. Even the Captain is only keeping you here for his own benefit."

"You're wrong."

"And you have always been to quick to trust those you do not know." Mina accused her, a blood-stained finger jabbing through the air to point at her. "You don't know these people. Lei deceived us all! She let us think she was nothing special, and now she tells us she's known of a way to get word off Earth and out to the rest of the Galaxy, but just decided to sit on that little nugget of intel. Niko's no better, hiding all of these extraordinary bits of information and useful skills from us, the people he fought and bled alongside! And the Captain, he's hardly been here ten minutes!"

Aminah stood, pacing back and forth agitatedly. Finally she sat again, locking her eyes with those of Tina.

"You know me, Teen. You know Jim. Things were better when it was just the old crew. You, me, Nadim, Kenney, Jerry, and Steven. We didn't have much, but we were making things work. Then you dragged that Captain home with you and we all started getting grand ideas of rising up and throwing the Reapers off our planet. We invited this disaster into our home, and where are we now? You're the only one of us that's left!"

"This is all on the Reapers, not Ben." Tina argued.

"Right. Because the Reapers were so interested in our little group before we started poking around in their facilities and climbing those towers, right?"

"Look, I'm sorry you got killed, alright?" Tina glared back at the apparition, squinting to keep the figure before her in focus. A sharp pain had begun behind her right eyeball, a line of twisting light spearing across her vision. "Maybe we did turn ourselves into a target. Maybe we were stupid to go digging around where we didn't belong. But somebody needed to find that information. And once we get to New York and use the QEC buoy to send our intel to Commander Shepard, we'll finally have a real shot at saving our home from these damn machines. We have to get the word out, even if it costs us our lives!"

"And then what? What will you do when you get the message out?"

"I don't know, but we sure as hell won't sit around and wait for the world to end. Somewhere, somehow, we'll find a way to fight back. These bastards aren't taking our world without one hell of a fight."

The shuttle was deathly quiet for a very long time, during which Aminah returned to her seat. She closed her eyes, head bowing as her fingers wove together. When she lifted her head, her eyes had changed, the rich brown orbs replaces with dull, dark grey circles the colour of a storm-swept sea. Her lips curled in a cruel, taunting smile as she spoke, her voice deep, reverberating through Tina's skull.

"I see." The rumbling, thunderous tone filled every corner of the shuttle, causing Tina to quail before its power. "That is all that we needed to know. You have been useful, Human. We look forward to speaking with you again."

"What?" Confusion boiled in Tina's mind, swiftly replaced by sour dread as realisation dawned. "No!"

She rose from where she had been lying, charging towards the face that swiftly faded before her. She raised a hand, ready to strike-

Her entire body lurched as she woke with a start, rolling from her temporary bed to thump down onto the floor. Pain screamed through her shoulder to fill the rest of her body as her lungs went tight, holding back the cry of pain that leapt into her throat.

Startled awake by her sudden movement, Benjamin jumped to his feet, quickly dropping to her side to make sure she was uninjured.

"Tina! You okay?"

Words gathered up in the back of her throat, eager to make their way out to warn him, but an immutable, unbending imposition held her back, silencing her voice before it could be raised. She was forced to settle for a dull nod, her head moving slowly and reluctantly. Benjamin watched her face carefully, worry in every crease of his expression.

"Come on. Let's get you back on your feet. Its probably not good for you to sleep too long. How's the shoulder?"

"Giving me more trouble than you could imagine." She muttered, wincing as a spike of pain tore through her brain, a warning that even this was not subtle enough a hint of what was really in her head.

"We should put some Medi-Gel on it." The Captain suggested. "I can give you a small enough dose that it won't affect your mind, but at least it can keep the damage from getting any worse."

"Okay."

"Hey, guys?" Lei's voice drifted back from the cockpit. "You might wanna come see this."

**~o~0~o~**

Lei leaned over the console, peering up through the viewport as the rest of the shuttle's occupants shuffled up behind her. Her expression was one of utter awe as she looked out on the vista before her, ignoring Niko's whistle of surprise as he placed himself in the seat next to her. Benjamin leaned between them, eyes wide as he took in the full scope of the structure before the shuttle.

Rising up from the seas floor was a massive column of metal, the thick base of one of the Reapers' many skyhooks. Lights covered the lattice of metal supports that wove their way up from the depths, creating a beacon of luminescence in the pitch black of the ocean. From a distance, the pillar had looked like a massive rent in the world, a chasm from which spilled forth blinding light. Closer to, its true shape became more recognisable, including the cylindrical pipe that ran up through it, digging down into the seabed and extending all the way up to the surface.

"Looks like its not just the cities the Reapers are plundering." Benjamin commented. "They're digging straight down into the planet itself, sucking the whole thing dry."

"What could they be getting out here?" Lei wondered.

"Many things." Niko answered. "Oil, natural gas, precious minerals. There is much under the oceans we have not yet found."

"Fossil fuels? What could they possibly need with those?"

"Whatever they're building, they need every resource they can get, and fast." Benjamin observed. "Processing all of that material and transporting it takes energy, and lots of it."

"If they're using up what we've left behind, then I guess they must be really scraping the barrel." Lei muttered. "They're getting desperate. Maybe whatever they're doing is failing."

"Or getting near to completion." The Captain countered grimly. "Shepard said that they wait fifty thousand years between invasions, and that he managed to slow them down by stopping Saren. If I were them, I'd be in a hurry to finish up after a wait like that."

"We shouldn't be here." Tina murmured quietly, lurking behind the others. Her face had grown pale, fear strong in her expression.

"We're just a speck in the ocean." Lei assured her. "We'll be fine."

"The Reapers built these things. They watch them carefully. We mustn't linger."

"She may be right." Benjamin said, looking to his friend cautiously. Her eyes were distant, unfocused. "We should go before we're discovered."

"I guess." Lei sighed. "I'd have liked to take a closer look. The thing is pretty, at a distance. But I guess we don't want to be around when the friendly neighbourhood squid-machines pop by-"

On cue, a dark shape descended from above, momentarily blotting out the lights of the pillar as it passed before touching down on the seabed gracefully. Puffs of disturbed sand billowed up around it before it commenced a slow, methodical stride around the pillar, patrolling the surrounding area with the speed and grace of a continental plate. Every step it took sent vibrations through the seabed and through the water, the reverberations finally reaching the shuttle and causing the hull to rattle. The occupants of the craft froze for a moment, watching the creature in equal parts shock and awe.

Behind the others, Tina backed away a few steps, her eyes locked on the massive creature. The pain in her skull increased, a flash of Aminah's dead, grey eyes dominating her thoughts for a moment as the monstrous voice she had used returned, a quiet, wordless whisper in the back of Tina's thoughts. She shuddered, but could do nothing to silence the voice, only breaking free of her paralysis when Benjamin spoke again.

"Time to get out of here."

Lei nodded, the attraction of remaining to inspect the construction gone. In moments, the shuttle was moving again, swerving in a wide curve around the skyhook to avoid the Reaper's watchful eyes. Benjamin spared the pillar a final glimpse, taking in the silent grace of the structure and the menace of the builder that stalked around it. Then, as he suppressed a shiver at the sensation of being so close to the enemy, the view was lost in the murk of the depths, the bright light dwindling to a low glow that soon vanished completely, the absolute night closing in around the shuttle again.

**~o~0~o~**

It took a further two hours for the shuttle to finish its journey across the ocean floor, until finally the sea bed rose up to meet the surface, allowing the craft to drift on a rising tide until it struck dry land with a gentle jolt. In this final moment Benjamin risked a little boost of power to the engines, pushing it up the shingle beach until it was firmly ashore, then abruptly cut the power to avoid detection by any nearby scanning equipment. The quartet spilled out of the shuttle, stretching awkwardly as they worked out kinks that had insinuated their way into their muscles.

Working an awkward cramp out of his neck, the young Captain surveyed their surroundings, taking in the dull grey beach beneath the equally dull grey sky. The ruins of some buildings lay nearby, not much more than a pile of burnt rafters and dented metal. Beyond them, a cracked but serviceable road ran parallel to the coast, running from north to south. As he looked along the road to the north, he could make out the faint silhouette of the New York megalopolis, its multi-tiered structure imposing against the darkening sky. Even at this distance, the fires raging within the city could be seen all too clearly, thick pillars of black smoke ascending like the fingers of some dark god trying to arise from the untold death and destruction.

New York City was a marvel of modern architecture, spawned by a massive increase in its population, a growth instigated mainly by an influx of immigrants seeking better prospects in the planet's most prosperous city. Starting in the early twenty-one hundreds, the city had abruptly found itself without room to expand, with people crowding the streets to an almost inhospitable degree. To cope with this, city planners had commenced construction on a revolutionary 'Upper City', constructed in an enormous U-shape around the edge of the bay that housed the legendary Manhattan Island and placed some forty stories above ground. A second layer of streets, plazas and parkland was suspended between the thousands of skyscrapers, effectively doubling the acreage of the city in a single move, as well as providing additional support to the towers themselves to allow further expansion upwards. In the meantime, the Lower City was provided with artificial sunlight and simulated weather thanks to the most sophisticated technology available, constantly upgraded to ensure that no section of the city was deprived of anything it needed. Following the discovery of Mass Effect technology and the architectural benefits that provided, gigantic pillars labelled 'Sky Cities' were constructed at key points, spearing up from the ground through the Upper City. These massive cylinders rose higher than any other building, their pointed peaks grasping at the lower levels of the clouds while their interiors housed ten times the population of a normal skyscraper, maximising space usage and optimising the allocation of vital utilities. They also provided additional strength to the city structure, allowing for work on a third and finally a fourth layer to be built, with the monikers of Upper and Lower City being removed in favour of Tier One, Two, Three and Four respectively, a government attempt to remove the implied stigma of living closer to the ground. Recent plans had been unveiled for a fifth and final level to be built, at a staggering height of two hundred stories. In order to combat the cold winds and thinner air at this height, the final layer was to be encased in protective domes, something that the Hanar had been helping the Alliance to develop. It had become the hope of both the Alliance and the Earth-based American government that New York could rival any Thessian or Palaven city, becoming the shining jewel in the foundling interstellar power, with innovations both Human and alien improving the lot of its two hundred or so million inhabitants.

In the centre of this sat Manhattan Island, surprisingly untouched by the massive expansion that surrounded it. The skyline that had been familiar for so long still survived, with countless buildings remaining pristine, a memorial of the past. Some larger, more modern buildings mingled with the much smaller ones of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, but the city planners had chosen not to build the island upwards, deciding that the classic skyline had been too iconic to remove. So, while many arching bridges sloped their way across the river to reach the island and connect it with both the upper and lower levels, Manhattan itself stood out against the bulk that was the rest of the city, extraordinary for its normality in comparison, tucked away inside the massive curve of the megastructure.

Of course, as was so common with any endeavour, the project had soon lost its shine once put into the hands of the public. The rich elite had continued to migrate higher and higher up through the levels as the city climbed towards the sky, while the destitute found themselves banished to the lower levels, where filth and desperation dominated the streets. The sophisticated technology of the lower levels was soon neglected, leaving the deepest sections of the city dark and imposing. It was rumoured that it was in these dark, dirty streets that Commander Shepard had grown up, gaining his sharp wits and unfailing drive to survive, although nobody could confirm it and he certainly never discussed it.

As Benjamin watched the city, a flicker of admiration in his heart, a flight of spherical drones buzzed past some two or three miles away, racing far above the landscape as they darted towards the city. In addition, the looming shapes of several Reapers could be seen, two striding along the upper layer of the megacity while a third stalked the burnt-out wilderness that had been the surrounding landscape. Benjamin shuddered at the sight of the monstrous machines, overlarge even at this distance. He turned back to his team.

"New York isn't that far from here." He commented. "We should be able to make it before night really sets in. Then we've all we've got to do is find a safe route to the Shadow Broker QEC station."

"Oh, is that all." Tina chuckled, a hollow attempt at a joke. "I thought this might be difficult."

"I would save words for when we are finished." Niko grunted, pushing the shuttle back into the surf. After a few moments of the Russian's strained grunting, the craft wallowed in the shallows, water flooding in through its open hatches. Any passing Reaper patrols would dismiss the vehicle as a crash site, but it wasn't out of reach for determined and needy survivors, either. Turning from this and dusting his hands, Niko continued. "Big city like New York- Many people. Many victims for indoctrination. Will be harder fight than London, and with less people to fight for us. If facility has not been destroyed by Reapers."

"Ain't that a cheery thought." Lei chuckled. "We should be fine. The facility is top secret, and any agents with knowledge of it would die before falling prey to the Reapers. It won't have been discovered."

"If you say so." The bigger man grumbled, patting his guns. "But there were two hundred million people in New York before attack. I am only having thirty-two bullets left."

"We're getting no closer just standing around here." Benjamin said firmly. "Come on. We've got to keep moving before we're discovered."

With that, the team set off, trudging down the road with an ever watchful eye on the skies above for any enemy scouts.

**~o~0~o~**

The devastation of the megacity didn't truly become apparent until the four-strong group found themselves within its borders, skulking through the lowest levels of the massive construction like rats under floorboards. Aside from the grandiose destruction of the Reapers themselves, from massive craters where their feet had fallen to the more refined ruin their beam weapons left behind, it was clear that their lesser troops had ravaged the city in their own way. Doors and windows had been obliterated with reckless abandon, while smears of blood coated the streets in a thick sheen of dried slime. Some bodies had been left where they fell, obviously too damaged for the Reapers to make proper use of. Benjamin shuddered as he thought of the poor individuals whose bodies had not been left to decay in the open. Those people would be found wherever the trails of smeared blood led, facing a fate far worse than the ones who had merely endured an agonising death.

Fires still raged in many buildings, vomiting out merciless black fumes that made the air thick and heavy. In the midst of the carnage, the team managed to spot a few charred skeletons, contorted from the pain that had marked their final moments. The smell wafting from those corpses was particularly nauseating, overpowering the cloying smoke with ease.

"My God…" Tina breathed. "I thought I'd seen how bad it could get with London, but this is so much worse."

"It's a bigger city." Benjamin reasoned. "The Reapers must have put more focus into their attack here."

The rest of the team nodded silently, all gazing about with a preoccupied air. Even the normally light-hearted Lei was quiet, reserved.

Benjamin hadn't even taken two more steps before he came to a sudden halt, holding up one clenched fist to silently signal his comrades. He looked about cautiously, ears straining. Almost immediately, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, every instinct in his body screaming out a warning.

The low wheeze of air pushing through a lifeless throat, echoed by a faint grinding of shifting debris, was all of the warning that the team received before a lone Husk shambled into view, its body hunched over as its face turned towards the ground. It limped through the wreckage slowly, dead eyes surveying the ground beneath its feet. As it moved into view, its face turned towards the team, the once Human features unnaturally still. With a snarl, it lunged forwards, the loud howl of escaping air echoing through the ruined city.

Acting on instinct, Benjamin brought his rifle around, two shots puncturing the creature's stomach before a loud crack burst out behind him, the Husk's head exploding in a shower of gore. The ruined body dropped into the debris, still twitching wildly.

As Benjamin turned to thank him, Niko ejected the spent clip in his gun, a fresh one quickly replacing it.

"We should move. Where there is one, more will be close by."

On cue, a chorus of screams tore through the shattered city, more lurching figures racing into view. Human, Asari, Turian, even a few Quarians and Krogan darted through the streets, all moving with a singular purpose, converging on the position of their fallen kin. Pale skin, dead eyes, hunched gaits and overt signs of cybernetic augmentation betrayed their true nature, the chaff of the Reaper forces. Benjamin couldn't spot any Thralls like the ones his friends had been turned into. At least, there weren't any yet.

Moving together, the team found a burnt-out store, leaping through shattered windows to take up a defensive position. Benjamin and Niko hunkered down beneath the window, standing up to take shots at the oncoming horde. After a few moments, the Husks returned fire, many of them clutching stolen weaponry, and a few with the weapons fused into their bodies, presumably firearms they had been carrying when they had been captured and converted.

Lei moved further back into the store, hiding behind a charred counter as she used her omnitool to hurl bolts of fire and electricity into the charging mass. Tina stayed with her, her pistol not doing much against the monsters, although Benjamin was grateful for every bullet they could throw at their foes.

With a grunt, Niko stood up, both guns blazing as he unloaded the clips into the nearest Husks. When the first few shots bounced off his barrier, he dropped back into cover, reloading as his defences recharged. Benjamin took that as his cue to reveal himself, his rifle chattering loudly through the darkening night.

The Husk advance was slowed, but their enemies were too numerous to be fully stopped, their progress dragging closer and closer with every body that struck the ground. One Krogan near the front, his face a mess of twisted wires and torn flesh, took every shot sent his way, barely stumbling as he continued drawing closer.

Realising that if the burly alien Husk was allowed to reach their refuge the team would be swiftly overrun, Benjamin leapt up, focusing all of his aggression on the single target. A full clip unloaded itself into the Krogan's head, followed by a powerful Concussive Shot that floored the creature. As it scrabbled around in the dirt, trying to regain its feet, Niko fired both of his guns, blasting its skull open and ending its life.

"Ben!" Lei's shout barely carried over the noise of the battle.

He looked to her to see her pointing out, beyond the heaving mass of pallid bodies. At the back of the throng, a lone figure stood atop a pile of rubble, watching the battle unfold. He was another Krogan, but this one showed no sign of alteration. Benjamin groaned inwardly, dreading the thought of fighting an advanced Krogan Thrall. The Husk version of the Reaper minion had been difficult enough to take down, but an advanced permutation of the creature would be nigh unstoppable with the equipment the team had available to them.

The figure on top of the rubble produced a long, cylindrical device, planting it firmly into the ground at its feet. It paused, looking back at the raging battle, then made a few adjustments to the angle of the device. There was a puff of smoke from the cylinder, followed by a faint 'pop'.

Half a second later, chaos erupted in the Husk ranks. As the figure went about reloading his tube, the mortar shell that he had already launched struck squarely in the middle of the seething horde, exploding with wild fury. Some Husks disintegrated in the explosion, others were severely damaged, and still more were knocked flat by the shockwave of compressed air. Only a handful of the pallid host had managed t turn around when the second shell hit, seeding further mayhem.

Shots rang out on all sides, two teams of Turians, Humans and a few Batarians springing up from previous hiding places to create a deadly crossfire that the Husks found themselves in the centre of. Upper windows of buildings on both sides of the street shattered, a couple of Asari barking out orders to a small team of biotics as they rained down devastating blasts of dark energy. In moments, the unstoppable assault of the Reaper horde turned into a rout, the Husk ranks quickly thinning.

Benjamin watched in awe as the new arrivals tore into their foes, brutal efficiency decimating the Husks. The Krogan who had signalled the start of the offensive still occupied his spot on the pile of rubble, having switched from his mortar cannon to an assault rifle that was most definitely designed for a Krogan, much too large for any other species. Beside him, a Human in full assault armour used a sniper rifle to pick off any Husks on the edge of the mass of perishing creatures, making sure none could flee into the shadows.

In next to no time, the Husks were all dead, the street falling deathly quiet. The Human who accompanied the Krogan barked out a few orders over his helmet radio, his voice too muted by the distance for Benjamin to make out the commands. Several of the riflemen who lined the street moved forward, digging through the pile of bodies, while the rest set about scouring the stores and homes that had been their hiding places before the attack.

As the Human leader and his Krogan ally approached the mass of corpses, they were joined by a Salarian in a set of light armour who bore the nervous disposition of one not used to combat. His three-fingered hands clutched a submachine gun tightly, his demeanour unstable as he twitched at the slightest out of place noise. The trio spoke for a moment before turning to face Benjamin's refuge, walking forward slowly and carefully.

Moving in as deliberate and non-threatening a manner as he could, Benjamin stepped into view, hands up in a gesture of openness and peace. Even so, the Salarian jumped at the sight of him and the three comrades that accompanied him, the SMG up and pointing in their direction in a blink.

"Get back!" He stammered, eyes wide as the gun trembled in his hands. "Get back or I'll shoot, damnit!"

"Nal, put the damn gun away." The Human sighed, his voice muffled by the helmet he wore.

"But, Major! They could be indoctrinated!" The alien protested, his wavering weapon making Benjamin duck as it pointed at him. "We shouldn't trust them!"

"Nal…" The Human's tone was weary as he reached up placing the thumb and forefinger of his hand on either temple of the forehead of his helmet, cradling his elbow with his free hand. Behind him, the Krogan shook his head, a bemused smirk on his face. "For the last time, you can't just shoot everyone on sight because they could be indoctrinated."

"But-"

"Look," The Human's tone became stern, his posture brooking no argument. The faint Irish lilt to his accent served only to emphasise this. "I'm the shooter guy, you're the science guy. So go… science… something, while I decide if I need to shoot something. Sound good?"

The alien opened his mouth to argue, but then sagged, his weapon dropping, Benjamin and his comrades relaxed visibly. As the Salarian stalked away, the Human turned back to face them.

"Sorry about that. The past few weeks have made Nalon kinda… twitchy. Now where indoctrination is concerned logic need not apply, if you get my drift." He reached up, slipping his helmet off the reveal his face. "Gavin Dunne, formerly NYPD, now unofficial leader of this motley crew we call a resistance movement."

He paused to salute, allowing Benjamin to get a good look at him. He was tall, solidly built, clearly no stranger to combat. His armour was ill-fitting, leading the young Captain to assume that it had been scavenged off a corpse who no longer needed it. The effects of the Reaper invasion were clear for all to see, deep circles of weariness underneath his dark eyes, wrinkles of worry emanating from their corners. The filth of living roughly darkened his skin, while his unruly hair had been allowed to grow longer, tied back for practicality. One small concession he had made for vanity's sake was that his facial hair was neatly maintained, adding to the air of experience and wisdom he carried about him. Benjamin got the sense that he was looking at a skilled leader, a natural soldier. As he finished assessing the man before him, the Captain realised that the Major was offering him the same scrutiny, his keen eyes understanding Benjamin in moments. The two soldiers nodded to one another, one professional recognising another. Benjamin was the first to respond.

"Benjamin Swift, Captain, Alliance Navy. These are my friends, Lei, Tina and Nikolai. We're all that's left of the London resistance movement."

"This is it?" The Major's eyebrow quirked. "Damn. Reapers must have hit the UK hard."

"You have fared better here?" Niko asked.

"We've been very lucky." The Major's words were evasive. "Look, no offence, but Nal has a point. How do I know I'm not talking directly to the bastards themselves?"

"I can't offer you any assurance other than my word." Benjamin said, a feeling of helplessness in his gut. How could the survivors of the attack hope to endure if they had no way to show one another that it was safe to be around them?

"Well, you could always tell him the one about the Dalatrass, the Justicar and the Broodmistress." Lei commented with a smirk, to which the Major responded with a loud, barking laugh.

"Ha! I haven't heard that one in years." He chuckled. "But I guess you have a point there. Those mechanical buggers wouldn't get a joke if you slapped them around the face with it. Good on you for thinking of that." He seemed to relax further, an element of tension leaving his frame. "Alright, I'll trust you. For now. I'm sure you've all got a hell of a story to tell. Give us a hand with the cleanup round here, then we'll take you back to the main camp so you can tell us all about it."

As the Major turned away, the team made to follow him, Benjamin leading the way. At the back of the troupe, Tina subconsciously reached up to grasp at the collar of her clothing, pulling it tight against her skin as she strove to cover the growing infection that was visible on her neck.

**~o~0~o~**

The cleanup didn't take long at all, the team soon finding themselves in the midst of a small throng of people who questioned them incessantly. Dunne intercepted the bulk of the crowd, urging them to be patient until there was a proper chance to talk, but even so many tried to interrogate the sole survivors of the London resistance. Some asked about family in the vain hope that Benjamin or his friends would know of whom they spoke, while others were keen to know if contact with the rest of the Galaxy had been established. Was this happening everywhere? What remained of the Alliance? If there were any ships left, why hadn't they come to the rescue? Where, in all of this, was Commander Shepard?

Benjamin ached to be able to answer all of these question, but could say nothing, instead looking about at the countless faces that mirrored his own fear, anxiety and helplessness. His silence eventually began to speak louder than any reply he could have given, the excited questioning dying down to reserved, pensive silence. So wrapped up was he in these dark thoughts that he didn't register when Major Dunne dropped back to stride next to him, making him jump as he reached out to pat the younger Captain's shoulder.

"Never easy, is it?" He nodded to the crowd around them, keeping his voice low so only Benjamin could hear. "Carrying the hope of your people. It can be a real burden sometimes."

"I just… I wish there was something I could say. You know… to reassure them."

"Well, don't look at me for inspiration." The Major chuckled hollowly. "I'm no poet, or charismatic politician. I'm just a tired old sinner, trying to do his best to get through each day as it comes." He looked about at his own team, surveying each weary face and anxious expression. "These days, you'll find precious little hope to be had anywhere. For most of the people here, knowing that we've got another soldier fighting at our side through all of this is reassurance enough."

"At least until Shepard brings help."

"He's still alive?" The Major struggled to keep his voice low. "Where? How? Does he have a plan?"

"He made it out of London before the Reapers closed down the planet." Benjamin explained. "He's out there right now, finding allies to come back here and kick some Reaper ass. But that was right at the start of the invasion, and we've heard nothing since. Either he doesn't know how bad things are, or he can't come."

"He'll be back." Dunne said firmly. "You can be sure of that. He's an N7, and they don't quit, ever." His pace increased. "Come on. The sooner we're back, the sooner you can give us the full story. You may be bringing more reassurance than you thought."

**~o~0~o~**

The Major's troops had made their camp in an old fuel processing plant, abandoned for decades. The choice proved to be a cunning one, one of many examples of the Major's tactical ability. For one thing, there were no Mass Effect based power systems installed, meaning that the site wouldn't draw any real attention form the Reapers. The massive underground tanks that had once stored millions of gallons of crude oil were easily large enough to house the small army that Dunne had gathered under his banner, numbering well over two hundred able bodied fighters, and the tanks also concealed any heat the mass of bodies generated, radiating it into the surrounding ground.

The Major had done an excellent job converting the surrounding complex and nearby neighbourhood into a secure area, with makeshift defences scattered around and numerous early warning systems in place. As the raiding party Benjamin and his team had encountered drew closer to the complex, more and more of the fighters peeled off to go about their own business. Some took security cameras and sensors stripped from the abandoned shops and used them to expand the surveillance grid the Major had put in place, while others used building materials to shore up or create new barricades, blending them in with the surrounding landscape as best as they could. It took Benjamin's trained eye to spot it, but the neighbourhood around the home base of the resistance had been transformed into a nightmare for any attacking force, with difficult terrain, locations that favoured the defenders, and crucial bottlenecks leading toward sensitive areas. Any land-based assault would have a long and gruelling fight on its hands. Although, as Benjamin's mind was quick to point out, none of this preparation meant a single thing if a Reaper dropped out of the sky to rain fire on the rebels. He wisely held his tongue on that matter.

Soon enough, the Captain and his friends were escorted into an open area in the centre of one of the tanks, members of the resistance crowding in to hear their tale. The exhausted team sat down, with their new-found allies providing food and a little water to drink before discussion began in earnest. The Major was quick to introduce the members of his organisation's command structure. The Krogan who had helped to lead the raid was Torrin Kalros, a dockworker with a penchant for heavy weapons and improvisation. The Salarian, Nalon Gerris, was a low-ranking administrator for the Salarian Special Tasks Group, and served as the lead scientist and technical expert. An Asari named Hesirra led the biotic fighters of the army, a former commando who had the misfortune of being on vacation on Earth when the Reapers landed. Former mercenaries, criminals, police officers, fire fighters, a whole host of individuals hardened by the battles they had faced in the previous months. Benjamin noted that there were very few present who could not fight, most coming from a career background that involved combat training of some description or other. He pondered that for a brief moment before reaching a conclusion that he found to be a very bitter pill to swallow- those who could not fight simply died. Those who knew how to fire a gun had managed to survive long enough to go to ground and be found by the intriguing Major.

He shook himself free of that line of thought as Major Dunne turned to him, asking him to tell his own story. Clearing his throat, the alliance soldier leaned forward, every ear in the room listening intently.

**~o~0~o~**

Hours had passed before Benjamin was finished telling his tale and answering questions. Both hope and fear had swelled in the room as he told of Shepard's escape, of what he had seen in the Reaper indoctrination facility, of his journey to the top of a Reaper skyhook, and of his plan to contact the rest of the Galaxy with this vital information. Silence ruled for a moment as everyone present digested the information, before many eyes, Benjamin's included, turned to the Major, who sat with his chin resting in the palm of his hand. Dunne chewed over the Captain's story for a long moment.

"Getting word out through the Shadow Broker comm relay is a solid plan." He said. "Risky, but solid, nonetheless. We can't hold out on our own down here. The Alliance remnant needs to know how dire things are, that they need to get their arses in gear before there's nothing left to save.

"I reckon you'll find your comm station intact. The Reapers were only interested in active threats. If the relay was dormant, they'd have left it alone. However, this does mean that they'll move to destroy it the second you start to broadcast. Sending the message is essentially a suicide mission."

"A necessary one, though." Benjamin countered. "I can't sit by anymore while people die day by day."

"Oh, I agree. That's why I want to help you. The more even we can make the odds, the better." Dunne glanced around the gathered throng. "I'm sure there are plenty here who'd echo those words." Hands rose towards the ceiling almost unanimously. "So what we need to do now is put together a plan. Tell me, where is this comm relay located?"

"The control station is underneath Central Park." Lei explained. "We figured it would provide the best location that was unlikely to be built over or underneath. It uses an array of antennae and sensors spread throughout all of the buildings within a two-mile radius of the park."

"Central Park?" Dunne's voice held a note of trepidation.

"Is there a problem with that?" Benjamin asked, uncertain whether he'd like the answer.

"Aside from the fact that Manhattan is essentially Reaper central right now?" The Major answered. "The water in the way is an issue. With the bridges either destroyed or watched closely, the only other way to get onto the island is via the subways."

Silence met this last word, an aura of dread spilling over the assembled crowd. Benjamin felt a shiver of anxiety run down his spine as he looked to Major Dunne, urging the older soldier to elaborate further. Dunne leaned forward, explaining the lay of the land well into the small hours of the morning. By the time the first glow of dawn pierced the thick clouds over New York City, Benjamin was getting ready to sleep on a makeshift bed in the resistance camp, the plan shining bright in his mind. Equal parts hope, excitement, fear and anxiety filled his thoughts as he fell asleep, both anticipating and dreading the coming of the following night and the beginning of what would either be the retaking or the fall of Earth.

**Author's Note: And so, Ben and his crew find some new allies. Let me know what you think of this latest chapter!**

**This chapter introduces a character I have been imagining for a while now, but was waiting for the right moment to introduce him: Major Dunne, leader of the New York resistance. He is fashioned in the likeness of and inspired by the exceptionally talented Gavin Dunne of Miracle of Sound. Many thanks to him for permission to write the character. Bonus points to anybody who can pick out the little Easter Eggs I've inserted into the Major's dialogue referring to his work.**

**The vote on Chapter 50 of Into The Unknown has now been closed. I will get to work on Chapter 51 straight away. In the meantime, I'd be keen to recieve any feedback! Reviews are always welcome.**

**Fainmaca Out.**


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